Snowbound, Impatiently Awaiting Studded Tires..

The other day I got tired of not being able to ride (due to snow/ice everywhere), so I broke out the Pacer (with slick 25's on it, I'm sure you can see where this is going) and set out to see if I could make it to the store, just a few blocks away.

After a few tentative turns of the pedals, I was rolling! Sometimes sliding sideways, as the road was a mix of packed snow and ice - seems like they aren't clearing the roads at all around here. Well it was fun while it lasted..

A photo of 12th Ave on Capitol Hill (from Thursday):

After heading north on 12th for a block and thinking "I can do this," I turned around and headed towards the store. Mistake. I should have walked in the first place, but a bike addict just doesn't know when to put it down I guess..

So yeah, I bit it, but not too bad - did kind of a head-first baseball style slide in the snow. Nothing broken, and the bike was OK.

And in the end, I turned the bike around and rode down the sidewalk (about a block away from home at this point, I didn't get far) resigning to the fact that these slick tires just won't do in these conditions.


And there was about 10mm of snow packed between the tires & fenders post-ride (of 100 meters):

So I ordered some Nokian A10 studded tires!! They'll be going on a fenderless Miyata 312, and I'll be running it as a fixed gear (less crap to get snow on and/or freeze). This is gonna be fun, if those tires ever show up.. now I just hope the conditions stay like this until these tires come in, so I can give 'em a shot soon.

Hope everyone's having fun in the snow! Be careful out there..