dltang
Very Handy Member
When I left for work today it was barely spiting some baby snow flurries. Brian (bjt) even took a picture of me all bundled up in my winter riding gear. We thought it was pretty funny, here it is snowing and we are riding spyders. Of course it was in the mid 30's so I figured worst case scenario was some wet and maybe some slushy spots. On the way to work, it started to snow really hard but just for a short time. It hit the ground and melted, no big deal. By the time I got there, it was done. While at work the weather took a different turn. It started snowing off and on through out the 8.5 hours I was there and the temperatures took a bit of a dive down into the mid 20's. I knew I was in for an experience when the last 5 calls I dispatched to our ambulances were for auto accidents. When I got out to the roads for the trip home, it was a whole new ball game. The roads weren't just snow covered but I would say for 80% of the ride home it was like one big sheet of ice. I did pretty well for the most part, kept my speed at a steady 18-20 mph on the icy stuff. One little scare though. I had a van spin out in front of me, and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to put on the breaks. Also, a new experience for me, was which way to turn the front wheels in a slide. When I was young and had rear wheel drive cars my dad took me out and taught me how to get out of a slide by turning into my slide. Then when the front wheel drive cars came out, I had to adjust for those. Now I had a rear wheel drive but it was 3 wheels and not a car. Luckily for me I didn't slide that much. (by the way, turn into your slide). The van managed to get out of my way before I got too close to him which was nice. But now I had lost almost all my momentum and had to pick up speed again while on the ice. Spyder does not like that. I tried to stay on what I thought were the more heavily traveled roads hoping they would be less slick. Not really the case. I finally hit some roads that the salt trucks had visited and was able to pick it up a bit. Now I have to wash my spyder in the morning and get the salt off. But I am home safe and sound and just waiting for Brian to arrive home the same way. Yup, he is on his spyder too.
Don't just spray it, scrub it. Mean stuff that stinking salt. Although I still try to ride every month of the year (usually unsuccessfully) I have my limits. You may want to think hard about some limits, too. My hat is off to you, nonetheless. Well done!
