The Royce Files

How easily we forget the tentacles of winter in this region. Last year's early spring put a spell on us. Made us think that we're not that cold.We're pleasant once February rolls past. Not this year. The snow is still on the ground as April arrived. Its disappearing act has been hampered by the cooler temps that haunt our nights. It is that transitional season without a name. Sun, ice, and breeze. For us ice bikers it is also the season of re-freeze. In the morn, vast sheets of ice on our paths. In the evening, a malignant transitory lake to throttle through. I have 2 of them on my route. ice culprit The one above knock me off my ride. It was a slippery one with no way to practically avoid it. I tried the side and it got me good. I had changed my ride for the week. The old winter bike is not in good shape. It's pedal crank arm is falling off again. The rear gears are not working because the derailleur wire is broken. I gerryrigged it into a single speed and tha...

I was on my 2 wheels most of last weekend spinning around town. Occasionally I needed to lift and carry my wheels through the banks of impassable snow which keepers of the sidewalks failed to clear enough. This time of year the snow rots- meaning it does not stick together and melts. Rotting snow is hard to ride on with 2 inch tires. But not 4 inch tires.   The Pugsley I stopped at the local mall and lo and behold, I see a Pug out at the rack locked securely. This ride not only had the big tires but it had big spiky tires. The Pug would ride well in this weather but I'd be a bit cautious of the random ice slick. Another disdain I did not add to the winter biking post a few weeks ago is the snow piles at the corners. If you are riding the streets this stuff is piled up so high you need to literally be in the intersection to see cross traffic. These piles also make the rideable road space much smaller at that point. For those who utilize the sidew...

This is one of those things I don't look forward to in the winter. Snow banks. For the ice biker this means one thing- portage. My workplace is hemmed in by snowbanks which requires me to carry my bike from the closest access- in this case a sidewalk- across the parking lot and them up on a mount of snow lock up the bike. The irritating thing is the public sidewalk that leads to the sidewalk over the freeway- has not r weeks. If it was then my portaging would be lessened. Another note the sidewalk thing, In winter the roads lose about 3 feet of width on both sides. Sure I can ride in the road but my reasons are for sanity-sake- what good does a biker do when you are in essence creating a bottleneck since there is limited room for cars to pass. It does little to bring goodwill to icebikers. I just avoid the busiest streets in winter. But this sidewalk/street debate will rage on. I have been thinking about those Surly  pugsley bikes that are catchi...

So many great gobs of snow fell last week- they closed highways and schools and work and even my neighborhood BBQ succumbed to the flurries. We knew it was coming. In fact I did some pre-shoveling to keep up with all the snow that piled up. Our driveway was clear but the street we lived on was full of about 2 feet of unplowed snow. Unless we had some kind of truck we could not get out. The plows came in the afternoon. However, I walked to work that day. It was a streneous trek through snowclad streets and sidewalks. What I needed was snowshoes. Typically it takes the city about 4 days to fully pull itself out of the snow. The sidewalks near work were cleared 3 days later. But I still biked most of week. But I disdain having to get off my bike and walk it across the 94 bridge through 3 foot snowdrifts. All my time in Fargo this bridge's walkway is usually never cleared until the 3rd or 4th day after the storm. It is a vital link to North/South ped traffic. Again, I should ge...

I've ranted on here before on inconsistent snow removal in my town. Of which Lileks says in an indirect manner:"Rant on." The Twin Towns have it a bit worse than Go. More traffic brings those things on. I couldn't imagine biking in winter in the Twin Towns unless I lived at the very least 3 miles from work. A near impossibility there with the expanse of space that exists to put up buildings clear out to the edges of St. Cloud and still call it the Twin Cities. Here, things don't get much more than 5 miles out and then you are on the tundra, alone, drifting. I've been on 4 wheels for most of the last 2 weeks. This is mostly due to trying to ward off a cold and arctic temps. But it is also due to the dumpage of great amounts of snow which typically takes 2 days to adequately move. Yet it snowed for a few days in a row. That's when shovels and plows relax a little. Traffic compacts the snow but it also creates this light ...

Over the Christmas holiday the Midwest found itself in a deluge of snow. I made it home all right but many others were stranded or unable to be with family and loved ones on Christmas. A stretch of the venerable I-94 was shut off from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day (December 26th) afternoon. The large snow accumulation kept plows busy. Unfortunately for me, when I return home to the Go ( best place to find a job as noted by CNN), a 7 foot by 3 foot high wall of snow prevented me from entering the garage. The parking lot was no better- 3 feet in most spots. Let the snow removal begin! The next morning I got ready to challenge the snow with the winter bike. Private sidewalks were pretty well cleared. The streets were decent but compacted snow was beginning to form in places and I have not put on the studded tires yet. Public walkways I use were largely disregarded. With the city planning on putting into effect sidewalk shoveling ordinances, it would be wise if the city also did its part...

I am part of an unofficial organization that I call the Icebikers. We bike through most of the winter. It is a sometimes treacherous but mostly satisfying endeavor. However there is certainly on thing that irks me most when biking in winter- inadequate snow removal. For the icebiker, staying in the saddle is the ideal. I don't like to "portage" through sections of road or sidewalk every quarter mile. The icebiker appreciates a shoveled nearly to the concrete sidewalk and dispises a "snow hump" where the sidewalk and street meet. Typically I find the streets to be more maneuverable than sidewalks due in large part the inconstancy of shoveling given to the sidewalks. The other day I made my first icebike appearance of 2009. With the addition of a studded tire, I was able to make it to work on time. On the way back I took a different route and regretted it. A whole block of sidewalk on a busy street wasn't even shoveled. In the Go the last snowflake fell on Sa...