Blizzard Bike: The Movie

Finally safe at home.

It is here ... Blizzard Bike: The Movie! Galesburg got smacked with one of the wickedest winter storms in years Feb. 1-2. I have to admit, I never give much credence to the weather forecast. I try to be prepared for what may come, but I'm usually pretty skeptical of predictions of dire weather conditions. And all the hubbub over thunderstorms these days really baffles me.

Snowstorms, well they can really mess up life, though I think the greatest suffering has come from the fiendish February ice storm of 2008. (Original story not archived for some reason.) That storm froze the town solid, knocked out power for more than a day (at least at my house) and pretty much just sucked.

So, back to snowstorms. I've always been awed by the power of East Coast storms to stifle life in New York, Boston, D.C. And yet, part of me always thinks, "It's just snow, what's the big deal?" Foolish, I know, but when it's not hindering your existence it's easy to dismiss the damage done. Thus, a storm like we just had nicely jogs one back to reality.

I've been giving the leg a rest, so I welcomed the exertion of bicycling through the snow the past two days. The early ride, seen in the first half of the video here, wasn't so bad. Only a couple inches had fallen by mid-afternoon, so while it was a little wiggly in the saddle, it wasn't too bad. The ride home Monday night, however, was truly treacherous. Wind was blowing out of the north, right into my face, sending snow at 40 mph into my eyes and stinging my cheeks. Fortunately the plows had made one pass on the main drags and the wind actually piled the powder against storefronts on the south side of Main Street, effectively clearing the sidewalks. And while bicycling is prohibited on downtown sidewalks, I figured it wasn't an issue given the circumstances.

But even Main Street and Seminary had enough of a base layer to cause the narrow tires of my Robin Hood to wiggle wildly at times. And the side streets hadn't been touched, so there was no choice but to dismount and walk the final block and a half home from Seminary Street. Still, now I can say I've biked in a blizzard.