Weather & Health

We had a nice stretch of warm weather the last four days or so. Unfortunately, I was home with a cold, laid out on the couch under blankets, trying not to talk due to my sore throat. And now that I'm starting to feel better....it's snowing again. That's a bummer.

Windiest day ever!!

Oh my. So, it wasn't even windy at my house when I left. I'm usually really good about checking the weather report the night before and even again in the morning before I head out. But, I some how missed the forecast last Tuesday. It was sunny and warm and that was good enough for me. Maybe I was just so excited about having a sunny and warm day that I neglected to see the wind gust predictions.

I got a relatively early start (which turned out to be a good thing) and took my usual route when I'm not in a hurry. When I got to Standley Lake, everything was still very calm and sunny. I went around Standley Lake to Indiana and made the right turn onto Indiana. The wind hit me like a wall. Oh well, I thought, I was just a little surprised but didn't think too much of it. Until... it didn't let up. And then I realized that I hadn't even seen another motorcycle out on this bright, warm, sunny day. Hmmm. That made me start to worry. But, there in the distance was another moto coming towards me. On windy days I always feel like I'm leaning way over to compensate but in my mind I think, I can't be leaned over that far, can I? Well, the on coming motorcyclist was leaned over pretty far too. Uh-oh. It was so windy, I actually shifted my weight to the outside, hanging off the seat a bit, just so I could keep going straight.

But, as usual, buoyed by the other moto, I thought, I can do this. Besides, I'm half way there. Then, on the shoulder, not long after I passed the other bike, there was another, parked on the side of the road with two guys standing next to it. They looked pretty winded and a bit worried. Not good. But, I'm halfway there, I thought, and this wind will not last all day.

So, then I started thinking about parking as I'm hanging off the edge of my seat trying to maintain a straight line. If it's this windy here, in Boulder it will be quite gusty. There is a farther away moto parking lot that is protected by a small brick building and another structure. I thought I'd first try there and if the wind was still too much, I'd just park in the underground parking garage at the 29th Street Mall.

Once I got to the top of the hill on Indiana, which is where hurricane force winds usually happen, I'd fully decided not to turn around and also had a parking plan. I also knew I'd take the longer route through Superior, which might offer more protection from the wind. The problem with that route was that the wind had knocked out the stoplights through town. Ugh. So, I not only have to try to keep my bike from being blown over (and trapping me underneath) but now I have to dodge the traffic that doesn't know how to manage a four way stop when the lights are out. I saw a few near misses, fortunately none involving me.

The hardest part was being stopped for so much of the time. That's when the wind seemed hardest to deal with. But, I managed to keep the bike upright.

When I got to work, there were no other bikes parked in the lot. (Not yet anyway, more would arrive later in the day.) I wasn't surprised. So, I was able to get the spot closest to the building.

When I pulled in, everything got very quiet and calm. Yay! I sat there for a little while to gather my wits before attempting to walk to my building. Later I took this short video walking from the parking spot and out into the open.


That was taken later in the morning closer to noon. This next one was taken right after I got to work and walked from the bike to my building.



Things did calm down quite a bit by the time I had to head back home. It was still windy but more a normal sort of windy not outrageous sustained winds like that morning. The most memorable bit, other than figuring out how to hang off the edge of my seat to maintain balance, was riding through a pack of tumbleweeds. I managed to miss every single one! Don't know how that happened but I was glad it did.

So, the lesson for that day is not to ride in that kind of crazy weather. It was so not fun. But, I did it! :-)

Road Tripping

Yesterday was the first day of fitness boot camp so I packed a bag of workout clothes for the week. It's M-W-F. As I was loading up the bike, I realized, I had enough stuff packed and on the moto for a quick little get away. I had 4 sets of clothes (3 days of work out and what I was going to wear at work that day), two pairs of shoes, a yoga mat, a water bottle, and food for the week (32oz of yogurt, big bag of granola, 3 small packages of Fig Newtons, 2 granola bars, and a container of cashews. In addition to the stuff that's always on the bike like my rain gear, a few tools, flashlight, and various bungies. And it wasn't even packed super efficiently.
We have yet to do a road trip on the motos. I'm itching to do that and soon. The thought did cross my mind to just ride away. But, only briefly, since I do have to work and stuff. :-)

I drove to work today though. We're having some very unpredictable weather. There was rain at my house. I drove through some snow flurries. Reports of hail and lightning all around me but I didn't see any. And it is sunny and windy in Boulder. There are some scary looking dark clouds out there.

Forecast - fingers crossed

I sure hope this forecast for the week holds!! :-) So far, there hasn't been any new snow today and what fell yesterday is rapidly melting.

So depressing...

Snow every three days has been the norm around here. Sigh. Very cold morning temperatures, slick roads in the morning, 40's in the afternoons. Those 40s are nice, and we even had some sun this week, but those cold slick mornings are not conducive to my riding. Today, I have a workshop in the morning until about 2:00. Maybe I can make it home in time to get a quick ride in. Saturday it is supposed to be nice too. We'll see. Sigh.

so much snow....

I got a short ride in yesterday. We had a plumbing issue that took up most of the morning so I didn't get out until about 2:30 or so. And, once the sun goes down, it gets cold quickly. So, I just made it a quick jaunt to Golden and back. I wanted to keep going but, laundry was calling. Sigh. And now there's snow on the ground and colder temperatures in the air. Sigh. It has to warm up some time, right?

Sigh.

Ice dam - Ice Damn!

Aaargh! I just spent some time trying to shovel the ice away from the front of the driveway in the hopes that it will assist my efforts to ride to work this week. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm not sure it did any good. And there is still that large patch of snow and ice in the street as well. There are three patches that are pretty thick that I couldn't move. The two closest to the forefront of the image are the ones I really wanted to get at. They are right in my line of entry and exit. No matter. The river of water along the sidewalk will be ice in the morning anyway. It is dammed up all along the block and can't drain. And the snow melt will make the entire entry into the driveway pretty slick in the morning. I put some ice melt down anyway. Actually, I also put some fertilizer down because I thought it was ice melt.

Sigh. This weather is really making me sad. If we have blizzards in the spring I might just lose my mind. But, I won't worry about that now. The forecast for next week looks like this...Should I drive Monday just to check out the road conditions? Or just go for it? I usually do the drive first just to be on the safe side.

The weather outside is frightful.....

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgghh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe my lovely hubby can retro fit my Rebel with ghost rider tires to melt the snow and ice as I ride.......