A Post-Blizzard Ride

Well, the major blizzard of the year so far is over for us in the Denver Metro area. My home neighborhood area did not get dumped on as much as the west side of town apparently. We got perhaps five inches, tops!

Being a mile up in altitude and a nice sunny sky most of the day, we were enjoying mostly cleared roads by mid-afternoon. Hell, the roads were steaming with the melted snow evaporating. In some parts it created a small knee-high level foggy drifts of steam. Quite remarkable considering the sun was out and the temperatures were still below freezing!

After much work with the snow blower, I had me a clear path out of the cul-de-sac and the neighborhood:


I made my way out to find main roads mostly just wet, steam rising from the wet sections as the sun did its thing to clear away the melting snow.

Check out the steaming pavement

Road spray from the cagers was an issue and I had to keep more than the usual following distance from the car in front. I went to the local park to get my standard picture of the old tree:


Getting to the tree was no big deal, the way was mostly cleared of snow. I next went to the hill next to the police substation on Aurora Parkway and Arapahoe Road I think. Getting to the usual cul-de-sac proved a bit challenging as it was still covered with about 3-4 inches of melting snow.

I had to go into outrigger mode as the wheels where sliding just a tiny bit as I tried to stay in the rut left behind by some car. Still, made it to my usual posing spot for the motorcycle without incident.



I then rode around a bit trying to capture the first picture of the posting, steam is actually quite hard to catch on film it seems.

Once I got home, I washed down Brigitta since she was covered in road spray. No big deal and it only took a few minutes. While cleaning the front brake caliper assemblies though; I noticed there was a thin coating of ice on everything! I even had icy spots on the rubber boots covering the front forks. I guess it was the combination of 27 degrees reported by the onboard thermometer and the spray from the road and cars. Glad I didn't notice it before I got home, I would have worried.

Nice 27 mile ride, about an hour of wandering around the home neighborhoods. I even saw another rider oh his red Honda I think. I gave him a salute off my helmet, he nodded back and we went our separate ways.

More snow in the forecast for late Sunday, but there should be nothing to stop me from another short ride tomorrow.