Sleeze as a weather form

Just less than three years ago, I started thinking about getting a bike that would accept commercially-available studded snow tires. My commute at the time involved Houston Lane in Pewee Valley, a lane-and-a-half (sometimes less) wide rural road that was part of how I avoided using LaGrange Road from the end of Westport Road to the northeastern end of Mount Mercy Drive in Pewee Valley.

Houston, being so small, rarely got plowed after any snow or ice, making it a difficult road for bicycle travel. LaGrange Road would be even more problematic under snow, as it is narrow for the prevailing traffic speeds and volume.

By February of 2011, I had made the decision to get a Globe Vienna 3 Disc, as: 1) Specialized had them on closeout pricing, which was very good, since I was working for a Specialized dealer at the time and had employee-purchase privileges, 2) It has "hard points" for mounting front pannier racks, fenders, and even a disc-type frame-mounted lock, 3) it uses 700X32C tires (or wider), meaning that Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires could be had to fit it, 4) it has disc brakes, for all-weather stopping power.

At some point after ordering the bike and ordering an assortment of stuff to go on it (did I mention that fancy Euro-style frame-mounted disc lock?), I ordered a couple sets of snow tires from Schwalbe. Their documentation recommends a run-in period of forty to fifty miles at dry-road pressure (85psi) to "bed" the studs (although some knowledgeable sources, such as Peter White Cycles, say this is not needed on tires from their inventory, as they do an additional quality-control step before shipping), so I rode to work on them a couple times late in 2011 or early in 2012. Aside from those two trips, totaling something like fifty miles, I haven't needed them since I bought them.

Until now.

Louisville's weather had a bit of a rough patch over the last few days--at least by local standards. It wasn't hurricane-level, or even tornado activity, but plenty of rain and cold temperatures (although we got it a lot easier than many parts of the country). I walked out to Westport Road to ride the bus to work Thursday and Fried-day rather than ride in the cold rain of Thursday or the rain/freezing rain/sleet (aka sleeze) on Friday.

Since I usually bicycle to work, one topic of discussion was whether I had ridden. I decided that I would install my snow tires so that I could ride to work today.

I installed them last night, and took a short spin around the neighborhood to see how they did. I realized quickly that riding them at full pressure was a bad idea--they were not connecting well at all, and the bike was not stable. I lowered the pressure (minimum rated pressure is 35psi, but since I would be on pavement a fair bit of time I opted to try 55-60 psi)--MUCH better!

Since this was to be my first real foray onto icy roads (at least as an adult) on tires that would actually have some traction, I figured a backup plan was a good idea. I checked the TARC schedule, and found that I could catch a bus at 7:00 or so, or another one at 8:20 or so, and get to work on time if all went well. Given the ice on the roads, I was concerned that the arrival time of the latter (or later, if you prefer) bus would make for a close thing when it came to my start time, I rode out in time to catch the 7:00 bus, in case Westport Road was bad or I was having some other trouble.

When I got to Westport Road, however, it was MUCH better than Warwick or Washburn Avenues had been, so I rode all the way out to the store. I of course had a plan for that eventuality, as well--I enjoy reading.

Having read the relevant page within Peter White's web site (linked above), I was not looking for race tires. During a couple of winters working as a tow truck driver, I got to see a lot of the results of people who overestimated their competence on bad roads (and have made my own share of errors on that score).

I didn't set any speed records, but I didn't fall, either. I got to work much faster than I could have walked. I got to the bus stop much faster than I could have walked, for that matter. And, yes, I am continuing my reputation as something of a nut at the store.