Winter Storm Remnants

It has been almost a week since our winter storm. Each day has been sunny and it gets above freezing (around 40+). I thought by now, everything would be all good. Since today the temperature was going to hit almost 55, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get in a nice long ride.

I was going to an area called High Rock Lake. It takes about 30 minutes or so to get up there so I got some gas and took some nice paved back roads. All was good. Once I got to High Rock Lake, I switched to Off Road mode since 75% of what I would be riding is dirt/gravel. I made the first turn and all was going great.

I love all these back roads (paved or gravel). There are so many interesting sights to see. I did see where they have cleared out yet another huge swath of land. Not sure if it is just for the lumber OR a development. Based on the location, I think it is for lumber as this is the middle of nowhere.

I stopped quite a number of times to take some pictures of older abandoned buildings. It is so sad to see areas like this. I always wonder what happened to just leave these buildings and houses.

The house looks like someone boarded up the windows and left...never to return. Another house just decided to fall in on itself. And the last one, a chicken coop that has seen much better days. It is still interesting to me and provides varying items to look at while riding down stretches of back roads.

The one thing I did notice while riding is that most of these roads are still damp/wet. I assume they must have gotten a LOT more snow / ice than we did since it has not dried up in over a week. Granted, it has not been the warmest but with sun, I would have thought it would be drier.

While riding along, I did my best to avoid potholes as they were filled with water but then I came upon a turn and noticed...yup, ice. Could not believe it. It was no big deal but now I needed to be quite watchful when riding. Any spot that looks like the sun may not get to, be a bit more careful.

I was also beginning to notice that the roads were getting muddier. A little mud is not a big deal but like sand, deeper mud and my tires are not a great combination. I still think to ride either of those, you really need a more aggressive tire. My tires are 60/40. I continued to ride along enjoying the day but being mindful of the road conditions.

Then it happened. I was going a bit to fast and this one section appeared and it was mud...thick mud. I tried to slow the best I could but hit the mud about 25 mph. I handled it quite well but then the bike began to slide sideways. I was able to do a quick tap with the foot (making sure it was outside my rear pannier) and it kept me upright just long enough to get through this first patch of mud.

I stopped for a minute on drier ground to get readjusted. That was quite close. I really did not want to drop my 600lb bike on a road in the middle of nowhere IN THE MUD. Try getting that back upright! Counting my blessing, I continued on but at a slower pace in case I encountered any more slick spots.

The rest of the ride was not quite as eventful. There was still a bit more mud (and the occasional ice patch) but slowing down helped quite a bit. I have traveled these roads many times and was quite surprised that with no rain in over a week and temperatures above 40-45 that it was still so wet. But then again, my house is dry but over here, they may have gotten 2+ inches a snow and .25 inches of ice. Live and learn.