It's slippery out there!

[Alphamazing]

Woo! It's slippery out there!

My grocery trip, albeit short, was still fun and exciting.

As soon as I left my apartment, I could tell that it was going to be an interesting experience. Massive icicles were hanging from every overhang. Cars were frozen solid and railings were coated in ice. As I walked out to my bike, the few people in the parking lot looked up from their futile task of attempting to scrape the ice off their car to look at me, one so crazy and reckless to take a MOTORCYCLE of all things out in this weather. They were flabbergasted and confused. It was awesome.

There was a couple doing their best to chip away the ice on their car's door, since it was frozen shut. I set my gear down and pulled the choke to full on, gave it a few cranks, a few kicks, some lovin', and a few more cranks and she started up and settled into a high revving choke-induced idle. I figured that since it was such a short trip, I might as well try out the new helmet I got (DOT & Snell approved Fox Tracer Pro) and the new goggles to go along with it (Scott 87 OTG). After getting my gear on, I turned off the choke and gave it a few revs to make sure she was ready to go. A clean pull off idle with no bogging and she was. The couple next to me looked over at me as they gave it their all to try and chip away the ice holding their door shut. Here I was ready to go and they still couldn't get into their car. Bummer.

I knew it was cold and wet, so I dialed down my throttle hand from my usual riding style, but pulling out of the parking lot to my apartment complex proved I'd need to dial it down some more. As I made the turn onto the street my back end started to hang out. I'm still not used to that feeling, so it was a slightly unnerving yet exhilarating situation to be in. The wheel slid neatly back in line a short distance later, and I was on my way. Of the two or three blocks distance it is to the store, I managed to hit the only red light on the way. As the light turned green I have it a little gas and got more wheel spin than acceleration, all the way up to third gear when it finally settled down.

Making it safely into the parking lot was a relief. As I made my way around the store I got a few stares from people, just like before, who couldn't seem to believe someone was stupid or reckless or crazy enough to take a motorcycle out in this weather. After picking up the few items I needed and heading back out, I made my way towards the exit of the lot. As I waited for some cars to pass, I placed my foot down on the drive, only for it to encounter a patch of ice. My foot did a little dance across the ice as I tried to steady myself and the bike. I did not come this far only to fall down in the parking lot, after all! I did a little shimmy on the bike trying to keep us both upright, as my foot continued to slip and slide over this patch of ice. I released the front brake slightly and let the bike inch its way down the drive way, trying to find a piece of ground where my foot could have traction. Eight to ten inches later I was there, and my foot could relax again. The last of the cars passed and I made my way back onto the road, taking it VERY easy, as I remembered what happened the last time I exited a parking lot.

On my way back along the same route, I got stopped at the same red light again, and noticed that there were broken shards of ice littering the road underneath the stop lights; this combined with my too-heavy throttle hand was what caused me to peel away from the light before. This time when the light turned green, I only gave it the teensiest bit of gas and voila! No slipping! As I turned into my apartment complex I saw the couple that was next to me before finally making their way out onto the street. I pulled into my spot, smile on my face.

There were a few people still out and about playing with the icicles, and as I pulled off my helmet to show the big smile on my face a girl stopped and gave me a funny look.

Now I'm back in my room enjoying some hot mint tea and still smiling and laughing about the best quarter mile I've had in a long time.

[Stephen072774]

wow, didn't think about you getting ice in Austin... odd that.  Guess its been a while since thats happened.  We usually get the same weather as you, 2 days later... but the rain came and went with temps hovering in the mid 30's.  Just cold and wet. 

[Onlypastrana199]

   I used to ride in the ice too..till I tried to stop on a hill at a stop light..and slid under the back of a truck...get some studded tires if you're gonna be in ice alot..otherwise since ur a warm blooded Texan....take the car..Silly boy you're lucky you didn't get hurt...hope you had fun, even though your PUNY amount of ice is nothing compared to the two inches of ice we got here!   


PS...you all missed AJ falling down...she slipped on the ice...since she wasn't hurt..its ok to laugh at her..it was funny

[Dr. Love]

Get some 17' knobbies and stud them one row in from the edge... never tried this personally yet , but I've heard it's the best compromise for the asphalt/snow/ice mix.   

[Alphamazing]

  I used to ride in the ice too..till I tried to stop on a hill at a stop light..and slid under the back of a truck...get some studded tires if you're gonna be in ice alot..otherwise since ur a warm blooded Texan....take the car..Silly boy you're lucky you didn't get hurt...hope you had fun, even though your PUNY amount of ice is nothing compared to the two inches of ice we got here!   

I would have taken the car had it been over any sort of overpass or bridge, but for the most part the roads wern't icy, just cold and wet. The only ice we are seeing now is on cars, roofs, bridges, and things where air can pass around the object. It was snowing yesterday and started sticking to the ground enough to make it slushy. I wouldn't have taken the bike out yesterday unless I had a set of track plastics to put on it.

Today, I wouldn't have even been able to open my car door! It was iced shut, like the people's next to me was.

[Onlypastrana199]

You have to get the special de-icer stuff thats got a ton of alcohol in it and such...its in our windshield washer and and I have a bottle to melt the doors open...the joys of cold!...can I come visit someone where its warm? Joe? maybe?


On a side note...I had to have my dad drain my radiator and put antifreeze in it thats good to -35^oF because its supposed to get so cold here. My lil bro said he couldn't wear his contacts today because they were freezing..it was -20 up where he goes to college.

[OctaneMotorsports]

Yep, I live in Canada...everything is covered in a thick layer of ice. I spent over half an hour with heat guns, propane torches, screwdrivers, and scrapers carefully trying to get into my dad's 300C SRT-8. Crazy.

[calamari]

wouldn't try that on a gs500, but on a DR-Z400SM I bet it was fun

[scottpA_GS]

WOW!

I hate to read  . And that was a long post. But DAMN! That was soo well writen  Like a short story about the GS!

Awesome!

[Alphamazing]

I hate to read  . And that was a long post. But DAMN! That was soo well writen  Like a short story about the GS!

Not a GS, which is why I stuck it in Odds and Ends, I ride a DR-Z400SM now. But thanks!

All that for like, a quarter mile of riding. I'm getting cabin fever.

[Jughead]

I like Playing on Ice in my Truck.It's About the Only way I can get it to Slip the Tires Since I run Snow Tires.

[annguyen1981]

Just be glad you don't have to suffer that kind of weather four months straight.

Me, Pastrami, AJ, Octane, and MANY others are hatin' you right now.

  j/k

[Onlypastrana199]

Four months?! Damn An you've got wishful thinking.....we'll see...just cause winter has been kind so far doesn't mean it will continue..we might have four MORE months of htis

[The Buddha]

Nope ... our winter is going to be over next week ...    to global warming.
Cool.
Srinath.

[pantablo]

ice huh?

http://www.king5.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/makeASX.php?title=www.king5.com/kiraw_011607portlandhomevid.wmv

[Turd Ferguson]

I was stuck in Houston yesterday morning due to your damn "ice".  We get real ice storms here in Kansas.  Last year, KC got over 2" solid ice.  I've never seen anything like it.  There were a few light patches of "ice" and the damn town of Houston went to shaZam!.  Silly Texans.  I got to sit on an airplane for 4 hours before it even took off.

-Disgruntled Turd.

[Alphamazing]

I was stuck in Houston yesterday morning due to your damn "ice".  We get real ice storms here in Kansas.  Last year, KC got over 2" solid ice.  I've never seen anything like it.  There were a few light patches of "ice" and the damn town of Houston went to shaZam!.  Silly Texans.  I got to sit on an airplane for 4 hours before it even took off.

-Disgruntled Turd.

Yeah dude, Texans and any amount of ice don't mix. People here cannot drive in ice, snow, or hell, RAIN for that matter. It was really slippery out there though, I gotta admit. Even when taking my car around I hit a few patches of ice on overpasses. It's not a settling feeling, but I didn't panic and just let off the gas pedal so that it would hopefully regain traction. Pflugerville (north of Austin a little ways) got over an inch of ice yesterday morning, and there was a third of an inch or so covering my car during the afternoon.

It was worse in Austin than in Houston. You can thank the Gulf for that little bit of science.

[Stephen072774]

yeah southerners have the reputation for not being able to drive on ice, and when it snows, our cities shut down... of course, it has nothing to do with the lack of salt trucks and snow plows that northern cities have

anyway, sidenote...  Alpha I guess you saw Burned's build on that 57hp 05 SM... pretty cool huh, what was it, 27 hp gain at 9000 rpm over stock, unreal.  I wish I had 4 grand to do that to mine.

[jackiei26]

I can't believe you were excited to ride on ths ice - you got a lot of guts or your crazy!!!

[cuda_06]

You should see what we have had to deal with up here in the panhandle.  Some areas around here have had more than 2 feet of snow within the past few weeks and countless inches of ice.  In amarillo we have been lucky for it to get up to freezing for over a week.  Granted, we are a bit further north than Austin but this is still not normal for any area of Texas.  The occasional snow that we get over wintertime is usually gone within 3 days and temps back up in the 50s, not the teens.  Heck my water lines to the washer even froze a couple days ago!  And the forecast for the next few days...6 to 12 more inches of snow...