Slush Ride





		This was on the way to work. We had slush. It was not a bad ride, but the road was not cleared. I have usually ridden my bikes all year. I remember riding my bike to a friends house when it was 5 degrees. I had to take a major 6 lane rode for a good part of the ride. I had begun getting more gear for my utility bikes when I had money to. Several bikes had fenders, good lighting. I wore special pants which zipped at the cuff to avoid getting caught in the chain. I used a balaclava to wrap my head in warmth. It was easy to stay warm enough. The big problem was not overheating, or one part is cold and another part of my body is hot.





		This is ice in the chainrings (near the pedals). This is in the garage at work.





		This is what greeted me as I left at 4:30pm.




		The roads were very slick and the weather system moved in quickly. I stopped by the bike shop to see about getting some work done. Their mechanic had left already. Silver Cycles is a great bike store.





		This is Georgia Avenue at 16th Street near the beltway. I flew past this traffic when I wasn't falling down. I had a blast slipping and sliding through the neighborhoods.




		This is the bike/pedestrian bridge at Georgia Avenue and 495 (the beltway). Georgia is a really busy road and this is such a nice (expensive) alternate route.




		From said pedestrian bridge here is a view of the ramps and Georgia Avenue in the back.


	After a couple of weeks of melting this is all that's left of the snow. Below you see a refrozen ice shelf similar to the Arctic circle. People who walked across here definitely had to take their time. You hear the ice crack as you walk on the ice that is suspended on the asphalt below. In the evening the temperature often had risen toward 40 degrees fahrenheit. By morning all the melt had refrozen solid and slick. This was the worst area because it's on my short commute trip through the park which saves me from traveling the main thoroughfares. It's hard to describe the size of the roads I have to travel without having the number of vehicles per day that take that route. Both major arterial alternatives are fairly common 6 lane type avenues, but the volume of traffic all day is immense. We have web cams for the county that shows live traffic: Montgomery County traffic cams The location I ride on is at Georgia Avenue & 16th street near the bottom of the camera map near one of the 495 signs.