Occasional Hike-A-Bike

I've been really trying to stick with bike commuting but the weather has really made it very challenging for me.  I now live near Downriver golf course, which is a quiet neighborhood just under four miles from work. There are no, what I would call, direct routes to my house. You have to zig zag a bit. Since the roads don't get a lot of through traffic, they don't clear up as quickly as other more trafficked roads. And with the short thaws followed by days of freezing weather, the ice/snow mix on our residential roads is polished to a very slick surface. Add in the unevenness from the ruts created by vehicles and you have tons of opportunities to take a spill.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I have yet to fall down. You'd think I'd be running studded tires but I'm not. I'm riding on Thunder Burts, which don't have a lot of tread and essentially no deep tread. I have them inflated to around 25 psi. I focus on keeping my center of balance centered, if that makes sense, and select a slightly higher gear than normal. Anyway, it's been working out great for me, except for when conditions are really atrocious. Then I take the bus.

Yesterday I had some extremely rough ice conditions. I had to walk the bike a couple of blocks to get to some ride able roadway. I'm okay with that. Riding a bike is so much more pleasurable than driving or riding the bus.