Snow commute....safer than driving!

How did you like the roads this morning?  Just a touch icy wasn't it.  Maybe you should have traded in four wheels for two?  This is what the bike paths looked like this morning.

Yep, they get the same snow...but don't get packed down by 4000 lbs bumper cars....so it's not icy at all.  You do need to pay attention of course....but I'd argue its significantly safer than the roads were this morning.

And would you look at that...apparently I'm not the only one who braved the fresh snow this morning!

In all fairness, I did have a short, six mile trip (out and back) I had to make this morning which was mostly on separated bike infrastructure.  However, by my return trip at 10am the bike path had been plowed and is down to nice concrete with no ice.  Still a huge improvement from the roadways I drove subsequently to get out to the east side of town.

So while my point is to show the bike paths work well even in the winter, I will caution anyone who wants to give it a try.  The part of this ride that I don't have pictures for was on Mill St.  There are bike lanes but they are still filled with snow and snow plow debris.  These are no picnic and put you adjacent to vehicle traffic that is literally skating on glare ice at 40 plus miles an hour.  Not a great situation.

But...if you have a little moxy and a need to bike commute, snow days can be pretty darn fun riding!