As I continued south, the tailwind pushed me along at
comfortable 25 or so effortless miles per hour across the freshly-salted Lakefront
Trail. Aside from a few amateur photographers taking in the views for a few
cold minutes, it was a great feeling to have the usually packed trail to
myself. A few miles down, Chicago Police had barricades up to close off the
trail, forcing me to explore the dirt, grass, snow, ice, salt and sand
separating the trail from Lakeshore Drive. Aside from the sections where all of
the above mixed into a simultaneously slushy and bumpy concoction, it wasn’t
too bad considering a dedicated road bike on 25c tires.
The median soon ended, so I hopped back on the trail to
brave the waves some more. Still on a broad reach with the wind, I used the
gusts to my advantage, trying to time my efforts with the sections of low
seawall and high waves. This strategy worked pretty well and kept a smile
frozen (quite literally) to my face right up until I hit the Museum campus. At 27
miles per hour.
You approach the Shedd Aquarium with a gentle left-hander
into the wind, so I prepared accordingly, winding up the gears a little so I
didn’t stop dead in the face of a big gust. No gust came, however, so instead I
found myself going at quite a clip round the right-hand semi-circle just ahead.
Consistent spray from the lake had formed pretty icicles along the hand
railing. As my rear wheel skipped out, the realization that I was sliding
around a corner over black ice hit me nearly as hard as I would soon hit the concrete
barrier before completing my slide to a stop after the front wheel followed its
counterpart’s lead and gave out in spite of my best upright balancing act.
I popped back up with a choice word or three before picking
up my brave steed to bring me back home. While realigning the brakes and slipping
the chain back on, Lake Michigan threw up a massive wave that broke at the top
of the waist-level barrier and quickly froze to my bike and any exposed skin it
could find.
The ice cracked off of various places on my kit as I
remounted the bike against the wind. This ride was now a completely different
experience. The wind blew spray and sand into my face as I struggled to spin up
my 39x23 gear to any respectable RPM. Now that I was already beyond frozen, my
wave-dodging strategy became rather pointless. Fighting the wind to ride
through flowing water and crashing waves deemed too hazardous to fjord by the
CPD took the pain away from my hip and freezing appendages and brought the fun
back into my ride.
With blizzard conditions on the way, the weather looks like
it won’t be changing anytime soon; but that’s not so bad, is it?
-Drew
-Drew