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.
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