Wednesday, December 12, 2007

More Ice

I noticed lots of ice on the road on the way to work today. My back tire slipped (two to four centimetres) at least four times, but I never went down.

I didn't really notice any ice until I got to some higher elevations (near Queen Elizabeth Park). A fellow was walking his dog on the sidewalk, and as he crossed a lane he slipped around on the black ice. He said Slippery! Be careful! to me. I got a little nervous and more cautious, but I waited until I crossed Fraser street to let some of the air out of my tires. The intersection of Nanaimo and 37th avenue, and Nanaimo street South of there, was the worst (as always, it seems).

I hope it doesn't snow too much before I'm able to get home tonight.

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Thursday, December 06, 2007

Nice Weather

The weather forecast for today was sunny with cloudy periods, high 6C. Which sounds just wonderful. The people on the radio gush about how great a day it is going to be.

But in December, when I hear sunny, plus six or seven degrees, I think of one thing: Black Ice.

Sure enough there was lots of black ice out there this morning. I was gingerly turning right and my back tire started to go out from under me. Somehow I recovered and didn't go down; I just took the corner reeeeeeeeeaaaallly wide. Fortunately there was no traffic coming from that direction (it was a quiet residential side-street).

A few blocks later, though, I saw the guy in front of me go down. We were going down a short hill, with an up-hill on the other side of a traffic-calming circle at the intersection at the bottom of the hill. He went down while going around the traffic circle and slid for about two car-lengths. He said he was OK and I went on my way, being even more careful.

Only a few blocks later, while riding perfectly straight, I felt my back tire slip to the side again. Freaky. I pulled over and let some of the air out of my tires, hoping for better traction (but worried about pinch-flats now). I rode over some more icy patches but took it slow and didn't have any more incidents.

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Monday, December 03, 2007

Just give it a shove

The Skytrain was delayed a bit this morning. The woman making the announcement said that it was in part because of door problems. So if you see a door that is trying to close or is having trouble closing, give it a shove. She then repeated this message.

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