Snow Storm Commute

We in the Denver Metro Area woke to snow this morning. It had started lightly at around 10 PM last night and is expected to go through till tomorrow evening sometime. Estimates from the weather guessers are coming in from 6-14 inches by tomorrow afternoon.

Well, I finally got the snow I'd been wanting; just another case of beware of what you wish for!

Got all geared up and left the house around 7:20 AM with Miles, my youngest son in the sidecar so I could get him to school.

Off to school and work, not much snow on the ground yet!

After I dropped him off at the school, I slowly made my way out of the neighborhood and onto the main roads. They were wet and slushy mostly, with everyone staying in the channels created in the snow by the previous cars. I had to concentrate on keeping the wheels in these same channels for maximum traction. The snow was falling pretty heavily and the winds were making sure the snowflakes flew about.

All went well, the only point where I felt the pusher wheel slip was moving from a standing stop, there was lots of ice formed at the intersections. I was one of the slower vehicles on the road but not by much, everyone was being very careful due to conditions.

Got to work with no issues, except for the electric gloves I am currently reviewing having failed miserably at keeping my hands warm. I think one of the power cables is bad, must diagnose tonight if possible.

Here's Natasha after spending the day in the parking lot getting snowed on

Fulltime 2WD, backing out past the accumulated snow piled up by the snow plows, no problem!

I left work after spending only seven hours there, wanted to get home before dark and before the wet slushy roads turned icy. I must remember to carry an small ice scraper with me as the mirrors were frozen over and I could not monitor who was behind me.

Natasha was doing just fine on the way home except for the engine running a bit rough about halfway home, I think it was a combination of water condensation in the fuel system and the air filter being wet and probably frozen in spots.

Then, a momentary moment when about 1 mile from the house, the throttle got stuck in the wide open position. I am thinking it was ice forming on the throttle cables or the butterfly levers. Some quick wiggling of the cables and the throttle steadied down. Not a good thing, wide open throttle on snowy roads! Luckily, traffic was light and no one was behind me as I dealt with the issue.

Home safe

So, Natasha did pretty good for our first ride in real snowy conditions! I think I'll cover her air filter intakes somehow the next time I leave her all day in the driving snow. Perhaps instead of covering the sidecar, I cover the bike huh?

Covering the bike should remedy the air filter getting wet/frozen, the control cables getting wet/frozen and finally the mirrors staying dry.