DAMN Riders - No rules, Just ride!

I got a chance to ride on the streets before they plowed the other day. It was cold, and exciting. But this blanket of snow with a crust so strong I can walk on it is the pits!

Anyone getting a chance to do any riding or anything else fun in this weather?


~Patrick

This sucks.

Ive lived in MD for almost 25 years. This is the longest cold snap I remember. We need some warmth for this to melt.

I dont mind the cold if the snow goes away.

It's been so cold that salt no longer can work to melt in ice and it seems they're just not prepared with sand. I haven't gotten mail in a week because our neighborhood streets are still iced over in many places.

Couldn't agree more Bucho, this sucks.

Wow. I'll be honest that although I've gotten used to the Maryland thaw cycle and normally only having to shovel a foot path to my car instead of the whole driveway, I grew up with snow sticking around for weeks like this. I didn't realize that around here it would cause such ongoing problems. That said, this discussion does explain why my driving on 95 and some surface streets were so treacherous the other day - it wasn't that the roads were icy. They were a nice grey from the layer of salt. But the plows did a terrible job of clearing the snow wide enough so at one point I was driving in one of the oncoming lanes and the lanes for exit 33 were narrow and sketchy as hell. The way they did it would only make sense if they thought it would melt quickly. But if they thought that, they're idiots because the weather app clearly said it was going to be single digits for at least 10 days.

But in their defense, even with that information if they've never experienced it, they may not have understood what that means.


Patrick

I worked through the storm and drove home Monday morning when I-270, I-70, and I-81 was only two-track in one lane. It was...interesting. The Tesla with Goodyear Weather Ready (all-weather) tires did superbly in the snow.

I had to do some mediation and arbitration this past week and spent some time in Rockville. 355 in Rockville had the center lane open, but the right lane was mostly blocked by snow and the left lane was mostly open except where there was a business and they pushed all of the snow into the left lane and left it there. Driving through Rockville was sketchy while trying to figure out which lane to be in to get places.

Maybe we will finally get some melting this coming week. At least a few days of melt.

Right now at my place, I'd be happy if the wind would just take a hike. Ridiculous. Beyond that, agreed the snow is the worst part of the cold. Though, this long stretch of crap weather (even before the snow) has made the inability to ride much more tolerable. Looking forward to the better temps projected for next week and some burn off of the snow, hopefully....and back to riding

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CT9GdLSyQyMpmaq1A


Normally we would get some X country skiing in up at the Frederick Water Shed but Iced over snow doesn't work well. So I finally
used the new snow shoes I got 5yrs ago. At least we are able to get out and enjoy some outdoors.

this is way worse than Snowmageddon was back in ~2013ish. My neighborhood/peninsula community has private snow removal services, so our streets were cleared within 2 days after. An army of small front-end loaders descended and cleaned us up pretty quick last week. No more ice and such so not too bad in Annapolis. Now compare and contrast to northern Virginia, specifically Arlington. My girlfriend's street is so screwed up. The county only does a single swipe down the streets leaving piles and piles of ice mounds all along the sides, people cars iced in behind 3-foot walls of ice that you have to dig out. Single lane so only one car can go down. Luckily my GF's house has a 5 car deep driveway, which is a rarity in that area (Aurora Hills) You have to have a DAMN permit to park on the street, even though you own the DAMN house you park in front of. STUPID money hungry effin Va. GOV a-holes.

We had to dig out her driveway entrance so we could get to the DAMN street as the plows just leave it all along the streets on the sides blocking driveways and making it a DAMN mess. But you forget to shovel your walkway in front of your house? Ticket written-They screw it up and leave it but be DAMNed if you leave your sidewalk with snow on it. I told my girlfriend for the amount of taxes they pay to live in NOVA, they get robbed.

Looks like Tuesday we'll start to get back to some 40's in the days and start to get this stuff on the way out, but with the cold nights for a few weeks to come, this could take a while.

Yeah, I need to get outside today and remove blocks of snow from in front of my wife's fun car so it'll hopefully thaw the rest of the way out before she needs to use it this weekend. There's still 4" of snow frozen to the top of the Corvette (which is safely nestled under two high end car covers with a giant blue tarp on top so snow can't freeze the covers to the paint).

I can't believe this stuff has been here for what, three weeks?


~Patrick