Ice can be nice (Comments: 3)

People tell me I’m nuts when I say I look for black ice to ride on with my studded tires. But it makes perfect sense, in a kind of loony way. The studs grip the ice perfectly – though you still; have to ride conservatively, especially when descending a steep hill or taking a hard turn. But smooth ice provides a very quiet, pleasant ride, one made more pleasant by the fact that the motor vehicles are either going more slowly than usual or staying off the streets altogether. There’s a rub, of course, or actually a harder form of potential contact: cars and trucks slippin’ and slidin’ and maybe plowin’ into you. So make sure you give them lots of space. Even get up over the curb, if necessary, until the coast is clear.

And while you’re standing there in the snowbank, pause to pity the poor pedestrian. I keep telling people not to shower sympathy on winter cyclists but on the winter walkers who have to negotiate unshovelled sidewalks and perilous mini-glaciers at many corners. Residents, homeowners and businesses mostly do a lousy job of clearing their walks, and the municipalities do an even lousier job of educating and policing. It should be obvious that many folks become in effect housebound by the conditions. And many others struggle: the other day in my neighborhood, I saw a young woman trying to push a double kid stroller over a mass of crusty snow between her and a crosswalk. Amundsen never had it so bad. And I frequently see people operating wheelchairs in the street because the walks are impassable. I think we bikers need to organize some kind of solidarity with our transportation cousins. I guess we can always call City Hall… and then wait for spring like everybody else.

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