Day 91

3 degrees and snowing this morning. A warm 3 (if there is such a thing) with what felt like no real wind. This week is stacking up to be a tough one for me and I am feeling like I am quite possibly on the edge of exhaustion.

The days and miles of slogging through the stuff that accumulates on the roads have added up and taken their toll. I call this accumulation of brown/gray quasi-frozen slop “$h!+ Fu@k” This term of endearment comes from a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe area several years ago. It emanates from the first exclamation that comes to mind with each cold footstep into some sloppy muddy mess up to a knee while crossing a portage. So, to me, it is the first thing that comes to mind when tires hit the really thick-deep goop is “$h!+ Fu@k”

There is kind of a fun discussion about winter terminology going on over on MPLS Bike Love, I particularly like:

Oatmeal Snow - Brownish/Grayish snow with the consistency of a bucket of silicate. When contacted, tires slide through a sea of constantly shifting universal forces. Tires achieve a state of always moving away from your center of gravity and yet never gripping or reaching the pavement.

And:

Sidewalk Surfing - The humiliating act of having to ride one's bicycle on the sidewalk because the roads haven't been plowed yet.

In addition to being a challenge to simply stay upright, plowing through this slushy mess adds significantly to the physical difficulty of just turning the pedals around. My legs are tired. Fortunately, I am still capable of ignoring the dark thoughts that come to mind about driving.

I have the luxury of a view out the window at Highway 394 in Saint Louis Park. I can see the traffic at a crawl. It serves as a visual reminder of what I would be thinking if I were sitting in a car… I’d be thinking: “wish I had ridden my bike.” I have yet to come to the conclusion: “I wish I would have driven.” With the snow coming down, looks like today could stack up to be another day like Tuesday. I will have to wait and see, but then there is only one more day to go this week.