According to the news there is no record of it having ever snowed in Fort Worth on Christmas Eve. It snowed for hours on end. Luckily on Christmas morning the snow remained and the sun came out. It was an unusual spectacle, a white Christmas in the Metroplex.
This is what it looked like outside my door on Christmas Eve.
The roads looked dry this morning so I decided to ride to the Starbucks on University Drive and grab a cup of coffee. The temperature was still in the thirties but there was almost no wind and the sun was out.
This is a rare sight.
I turned onto the Trinity Trails to have a look at the river. Unfortunately there were long treacherous stretches of ice on the trail. I walked my bike for a while before I decided to turn around and head back to the road.
This is what I found when I first turned onto the trail.
Last night I took the unused Wald basket from my son's bike and installed it on mine. A front basket is one thing I have a hard time doing without. I leave my spare tubes and odds and ends in my trunk bag and keep my camera, wallet, phones, and anything of value in a canvas shoulder bag I carry in the basket. When I stop anywhere, the canvas bag goes with me while the trunk bag stays on the bike.
I like having my stuff within easy reach while I'm riding.
I've been using a pair of neoprene gloves when I ride in the cold. These gloves are not well suited for winter riding. They get wet and clammy. I'll try some cheap work gloves next trip.
That's all I've got. I hope everybody had a great Christmas.
One thing I noticed on Friday, while taking a walk, the north wind, along with the snowy precipitation, cleansed the air. It was cold, clear and the air was clean. Sol was shining down from his southern winter track. A gorgeous day. Hope you had wonderful day of shared memories on Christ-mas day.
ReplyDeleteWork gloves work very well down to freezing. You can probably get some high vis ones at Home Depot. They beat the ones with flowers on them.
ReplyDeleteMine work gloves are gray and worked well in the morning at Sanger before I switched to full finger cycling gloves for the trip back. They also work well AS work gloves.
Try a light pair of wool glove liners with a water proof/resistant glove over the top in a size larger than you would normally buy.This works well for me in Ohio in temperatures that you would probably never consider riding.I am about to break out the studded tires for commutting,that trail you showed on the blog would have been no problem,in fact I have ridden mtn. bike trails off-road fixed with studded tires on the ice.A REAL BLAST BY THE WAY! All of my winter bikes are single speed fixed gears, I swear by the control they give on slippery surfaces.Snow in fort worth!What's next,palm trees in Ohio?
ReplyDeleteI use insulated work gloves made by Wells Fargo that keep my hands really warm. They have a ribbed cuff that slides up beneath my sleaves. I have ridden with them in the single digits, and while my finger tips did get cold, I didn't get frost-bitten.
ReplyDeleteEr... sleeves that is.
ReplyDeletetwister-We had a very nice Christmas, thank you. I did notice Christmas morning just how bright and clear the sky was.
ReplyDeleteSteve A, frankenbiker,Big Oak-Thanks for your input on gloves. Cold fingers have always been my biggest problem when riding in the winter.
I know you guys from up north were probably laughing at our difficulty dealing with a days worth of icy conditions here in Texas. You should see how we drive in this stuff.
Check out the trails in Denver, on my Two Wheels post, today.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Tennessee, and I'm still somewhat amused by what is considered "good conditions" for the people here in Colorado (myself included). I would be holed up in the house, hoping we wouldn't run out of food, if we had this much snow when i was growing up.
I use snowboarding glove liners, in rock-climbing belayer's gloves, down to freezing. The snowboard gloves go on, when it gets colder.
Jon's tip with snowborad gloves is good,I have lobster mittens for when it's REALLY cold.As far as weather goes,it's all in what your used to.Jon and I ride in weather that would give penguins frostbite,but when you are used to it and dress for it it's fine.For you guys in Texas I can imagine that a bit of snow on Xmas, and temps in the high 20's must seem subarctic!By the way--I LOVE the pic of the snowman with the palm leaf hat!HA HA LOL!!
ReplyDeleteI was born in Ohio,but grew up in Georgia,so I'm with Jon on the holed up in the house thing.If Georgia gets a dusting of snow the grocerystores close down due to inclement weather!HA they don't know what inclement is,ever been to Minnesota?My brother in law said they used to cut bus shelters out og the snowdrifts with chainsaws so the kids could stand somewhere out of the wind to wait for their bus.I would hole up in the house too esspecially when you have to dig a hole to even find the outside.BRRRRRRR!!!!!
What can I say, I'm jealous! We didn't have a white Christmas, although we did get some snow later in the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI tried work gloves and they didn't work well for me at all, but there are a lot of different kinds. I have actually found that my favorite warm gloves are Specialized Deflect cycling gloves. They're expensive, but they are thin and surprisingly warm. They're good down to about 10 degrees, below that the ski gloves come out.
wasn't that something? we was quite happy to have a white christmas!
ReplyDeletepeace :)