It was snowing this morning when I woke up, but I had something to deliver to a friend in Osage so I took our best-equipped all-weather bike to make the trip. Turns out that it was no match for wet slush-slop snow. In the short space of the 12 mile ride the bike gained about 50 lb of water weight, eventually the drivetrain became so clogged with snow that the chain couldn't engage. This meant I had to walk the last 2 blocks to the shop. It gave me pause to think about how ill-adapted conventional bikes are to adverse weather. Otherwise it was a beautiful day to be out. The traffic was light due to slippery conditions and it was blissfully quiet on the roads.
Later in the day we opened the shop with about 10 volunteers from the Center for Civic Engagement. These are students with a service-learning obligation - either for a class assignment or as the result of an infraction. They were an excellent bunch of students and helped us finally get to our goal of 70 bikes rehabbed for the Christian Help toy drive next week.
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