The Big Bike Freeze

I was a bit bored that morning and feeling quite pent up. It was the middle of January and the bike riding had been stymied by excuses of cold weather, work schedules and general winter weariness. My wife had gone to work and I was left to myself considering the options for my next two days off. The thought of winter riding and camping had come to mind of recent and after attending and contributing to a bike packing class the week before at our local bike shop, I was raring to bike up and bike out.

As I drank my tea, realizing that the weather was favorable and the temperature was at around fifty degrees, the desire sprang to life and I began to consider an overnighter to a local lake. I had ridden the thirty two mile rail trail and gravel road route numerous times. It is a very safe low traffic area that rolls through some hilly roads once off the rail trail. The lake is not overly large but there is plenty of space to disappear. Given the time of the year, I did not expect to see anyone upon my arrival.

There had been reports of storms moving in the following day, so I thought I had better do my diligence and check the latest weather report. The report indicated that there were going to be dropping temperatures and a mix of rain and snow the following day. The temps were supposed to drop to the mid thirties and the wet weather was not supposed to arrive until the late morning. The wind direction was blowing out of the south gusting up to twenty miles per hour. The wind was to change the following day and be blowing out of the northwest at a sustained fifteen miles per hour gusting up to thirty five miles per hour. I saw this as favorable since I would be riding out to the north and returning to the south the following day with the wind at my back assisting me in my endeavor to hastily outrun the storm on the way home.

My wife came home for lunch and I told her my plans. She said that she had heard there was a storm coming in tomorrow and that I should probably check the weather. I told her that I had checked the weather and that the wetness was not coming until the late morning and that I was sure I could make it back before things got too bad.

After my wife went back to work, I began organizing my gear for the trip. I decided to go heavy on the clothing in case things got colder than expected.  My basic gear consisted of the following

Kitchen and Bath: stove, cook set, 2 water bottles, lighter, matches, hygiene kit (toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, deodorant and wash cloth), homemade spaghetti, yogurt and granola and an orange.

Garage: Extra tube, patches, tire pump, bike tool, and tire wrenches and first aid kit, two extra tie down straps, Gerber multi-tool and two flashlights.   

Clothing: Riding shorts, 3 long sleeve shirts (one thermal), one t-shirt, long underwear, lightweight water resistant pants, rain jacket, light weight down jacket, wool socks, gloves, stocking hat, heavy gloves, and light weight boots.

Sleep System: MSR Elixer 2 tent, North Face sleeping bag and a Thermo-rest ground mat.

Bike and Bags: Salsa Fargo outfitted with homemade frame bag, bar bag and tool bag attached to the top tube.

I also carried a Camelback backpack containing a water bladder for the ride up and back. I kept my cell phone in the pocket of my shorts and my ID in my pack. I also took a fishing pole and a small tackle kit to use if the there was enough open water to fish. Given the recent cold spell, I thought that the lake would probably be frozen over with thin ice, but what the heck; I might as well go prepared.

I checked the bike out mechanically and everything was working great. Once I had loaded up, I took the bike for a small ride up and down the alleyway behind the house to make sure everything was secure. The bike felt great albeit a little heavy with the extra winter riding clothing and two person tent. At approximately one in the afternoon, I headed north from my house until connecting to the Prairie Spirit Trail where I continued my northbound trek with the wind at my back.

My first stop was in Carlyle, Kansas, approximately five miles north of Iola. There is a restroom there, although it is closed this time of year. I stopped to do a quick bike check making sure that everything was still secure. After a few minutes, I continued north. I was pushing a five thirty sunset, so I did not stop in Colony or Welda which are at the eleven and nineteen mile markers. My game plan was to get to the lake enjoy some fishing if possible, eat some dinner and turn in early so as to get up early and outrun the storm. I would skip breakfast at camp and stop in Colony at a local diner to enjoy a hot breakfast. At least that was the initial plan.

Once I came to Welda, I exited the rail trail and headed out on gravel roads for the remainder of the ride. It was pretty dry overall and I had no problems covering the remaining distance to the lake. For those of you that may ride this route, I took Maryland road north from Welda and then went west on 1300. 1300 is very hilly, so be ready to gear low or walk when necessary. Some of the hills are pretty steep. I took 1300 to Mont Ida and headed north on Indiana Road. I then went east on 1500 road which leads directly to the lake. There are other ways to go and avoid some of the hills, but I find them challenging. And the down hills are a lot of fun in good weather.

I made it to the lake at around four in the afternoon and set up my tent. I also hung up my riding shorts, shirt and socks on a tree to dry. The lake was frozen over for the most part. There was a small area of open water near the shoreline which I tried fishing for a short while with no luck. I am sure they were all down deep away from the ice. It is still fun to cast a line though.

 After my fishing failure, I decided to get a fire going. There was plenty of tall grass for kindling and there was no shortage of smaller wood to build a cook fire. There were no larger logs, however, to sustain a good fire. There was enough midsize timber to keep it going and take the edge off of the chill coming from the lake. I chose to cook on my gas stove for convenience sake. The spaghetti was great. I had the yogurt and granola for desert. By the time I was done eating, it was around seven o’clock and totally dark. I stayed up and enjoyed the fire for a while longer and turned in.

I always carry a pretty heavy sleeping bag for the sake of comfort. I wore a stocking cap, long underwear and a light long sleeve shirt. I was perfectly warm in the bag atop the Thermo-rest mattress. I never really sleep well while camping and around midnight, I heard what sounded like rain hitting the rain fly on the tent. It was not heavy just a light sprinkle and then it stopped. It lasted less than a minute. Throughout the night there were several other times when the rain started and stopped. I had pulled my backpack and other gear under the vestibule of the tent just in case it rained but I was not planning on rain until the following day. I began to wonder if there had been a weather change. My phone was off because I did not have it fully charged when I left the house and did not want the battery to run down in case of an emergency. In my haste to leave, I had also left my remote charger at the house.

At around four in the morning, it began to rain continuously. The temps were still in the low fifties at the time and remained that way until around 6ish. At around six am, I heard what sounded like a freight train to my north coming across the lake. I immediately recognized the sound as high wind. The freight train of wind, water and cold hit the north side of my tent a second later with ferocity. The tent held up fine and did not bend, but the sound of the water and wind pounding in to the tent ended my peaceful rest with certain finality. I realized that I storm front had arrived earlier than expected.

At that point, I had a decision to make. Either I hunker down or get my stuff together and attempt to ride it out. Although the wind brought the cold, the temperature had still not dropped below forty five degrees and I was still pretty comfortable. The rain let up after a few minutes, and I decided to make a go of it. The majority of my ride was going to be with a fairly strong wind at my back and I had plenty of layers and rain gear to keep warm. I had ridden in low temps before for extended miles, and decided I could probably handle this one.

I exited the tent on the south to protect myself from the wind which was still gusting off of the lake. Although I was back in the woods a ways the wind from the lake directly to my north was biting. Prior to exiting the tent, I had put on a base layer long sleeve shirt, long underwear, pants wool socks, boots stocking hat, down jacket with a hood and a rain jacket with a hood. I had left my heavy weight gloves inside my backpack. As I began strapping things on the bike, I realized that my hands were getting too cold to function very well. Snapping and tying things together was becoming more difficult. After securing the other items on the bike, I then put my gloves on.

It was time to take down the tent. This proved to be very difficult in the high winds. I was not able to take it apart with my gloves on, so I slipped off my left glove and began taking things down. The wind continued to blow and the cold was getting colder. While I was taking the tent down, my left hand ended up covered in water and mud. I cleaned it off on my pants and put my glove back on which inadvertently got the inside of my glove wet. This became somewhat painful later.

The tent was impossible to fold in the wind. I tried to find some cover from the wind to fold it up properly but was unable to do so. I was unable to get the tent in the bag and therefore unable to carry it. Given the temperature and the wind, I decided to leave the tent to lighten my load and head out, planning on coming back after it in the truck later in the day. I hid it behind a fallen log and saddled up. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.

The storm was blowing out of the northwest and the wind was pretty brutal as I rode out. To leave the lake, I had to ride approximately three miles to the west before turning south on Indiana road. For the most part the first three miles is a climb out of the lake. With the wind blowing from my front right quarter, it was a low gear struggle. My left hand began to get cold so I tucked my fingers in to the palm section to keep warm. I was able to control the drop bars fine this way although it was not ideal. After about two miles, I noticed that as I shifted nothing was happening. I realized that my rear derailleur was freezing up. The wind was blowing water in to the rear cassette and derailleur mechanism combing with the water from the road and the cold was icing things over. By mile three and my turn to the south, I could use my front gears but my rear was locked solid.

I got off the bike and attempted to free up my back derailleur. I hopped back on continuing south. The rear shifters started working again but were somewhat sporadic. I slipped my fingers back in to the fingers of my left glove as I rode and realized that the fingers of the glove were stiff with ice.  I rode through Mont Ida and headed east on 1300 road. As I got in to the hilly sections of 1300, both my front and my rear derailleur’s froze up. I was stuck in the lowest gear in the rear and the middle gear up front. My breaks were also rock solid and would not pull. As I got off at one point to attempt to free things up, I noticed that the cable housing to both derailleurs were coated  with mud and ice easily doubling their diameter. My cables were frozen solid with approximately five miles to go to get to Welda and the temps were dropping fast.

I did not know what the temperature was but I felt warm. My layers were working very well. My left hand was cold but not hurting and my right hand was fine. My feet were a bit cold but not uncomfortable. My thought was to get to Welda and evaluate. I am not a fast rider, but I must say that the five miles to Welda from the time my bike had iced up, was the most miserably slow riding I have ever done. I got off to walk the hills a couple of times and when I got back on the bike, my pedals had frozen over and I had a hard time keeping my feet on board. The low gearing was horrible on the flats and downhill’s working against my efforts at speeding up. I felt like I could have walked faster. Welda was a wonderful sight when I finally pulled in to town around 9am after covering approximately 11.5 miles around two and a half hours.

After arriving in Welda, I stopped at the bike station and checked out the bike. It was frozen. The shifting and the breaks were totally locked up. The rain had stopped. For how long, I was not sure but it was not raining at the moment. I believe that the temperature was around twenty two degrees and the wind was still blowing and gusting out of the north. I realized that my next stop at the diner in Colony was approximately eight miles away with a total of twenty one miles to get home.

It was the first time that I had taken a close look at my gear other than my bike since leaving the lake. I realized that my rain coat and hood was iced over. It was hard and brittle. Ice fell from the jacket as I shook it. My boots were covered in brown road grime and ice and the bottom of my pants were brittle with ice as well. My gloves were soaked but fortunately still keeping my hands warm. I was sweating which had caused my under shirt to become wet and my down jacket was also wet from sweat but still keeping me warm. I had an insulated long sleeve shirt that was still dry in my back pack but that was it. I decided to call it quits and call for a pickup.

I pulled my phone out and turned it on. It initially came on and then immediately indicated that it was at zero power and shut itself off as if to say “it’s too cold to be out here I’m going back to sleep.” Now when it comes to Welda, there are really no businesses there that I know of. It is a very small town. There are a couple blocks of scattered houses and a few old buildings but that is about it. My options were either to find someone to loan me a phone, continue to ride south and take my chances or head to 169 Highway and put a thumb up and hope for a ride. Fortunately, I was able to find a helpful hand to loan me a phone. I called my wife and left a message on her voice mail.

After calling my wife, I headed back to the bike station and hoped that she would get the message and send someone my way. While at the bike station, I changed in to a dry thermal shirt and layered back up the best I could. I felt pretty warm and was out of the wind. A few minutes later, the gentleman who had let me borrow his phone came down and brought me a cup of coffee and let me know that my wife had called back. He said that there was someone on their way. We had a brief conversation and I thanked him for his help and the coffee. I quit drinking coffee a couple of years ago, but not that day. It was the best coffee I have ever had. A little while later, I was safely inside my friend’s truck headed back to Iola. I later returned and picked up my tent, and other than my pride there was no harm done.

The aftermath

After taking a shower, eating and warming up at the house, I started the clean up process. I put the bike in the front yard and used hot water to clean it all off. It was a mess. Fortunately nothing was broken or permanently damaged. The tent is still hanging from a hook on the ceiling of the back room along with my sleeping bag to dry out. All of the dirt covered bags and gear are in a pile on the floor waiting to be cleaned.

 

While spending time reflecting on this misadventure, I have come to several conclusions. First of all, riding in cold weather is not the same as riding in hot weather (understatement of the year). This may seem a given, however do not forget it. Although I was well packed for the short distance, I was not necessarily prepared for the mechanical issues that I was to be bogged down with. Be ready or stay home. Second, always consider that the weather forecast may be wrong. Be ready for the worst possible situation should the weather change which it often does in the winter. And third, do nothing hastily in the winter. Do not rush your preparation. I should have taken additional chargers or batteries for the phone. I was fortunate to not be too far away from civilization. If I had been, the outcome might have been devastatingly different. And lastly, know the capabilities of your gear in the weather that you are riding in. Once your equipment fails, you are out of luck. And I do not want to rely on luck when it comes to sub freezing temps while being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Enjoy the Ride.