Bike Turns into Pillar of Salt

Returned from holiday this weekend to discover my trusty Schwinn in an advanced state of fossilisation. In the weeks prior to the break, it'd been snowing or raining in Budapest almost continuously, so my bike was getting a twice-daily dousing of mud and road salt. I did my best to keep it clean, but did not have the time or patience to wash it every evening. And I did not clean it before leaving on vacation.

After festering there in a salty chrysalis for a week, the old mountain bike was not limber. My front brake, a typical cantilever type, had locked up solid, neither side pivoting on its axis. The front derailer had the same problem. I clicked up and down between all three positions with the shifter, but the derailer would not budge.

I took both paralysed components apart with the intention of cleaning out the dirt and corrosion and then giving them a good lube. It wasn't until all parts were scattered about the kitchen floor that I discovered my chain oil was missing. So I improvised with the nearest thing at hand: some virgin olive oil from next to the stove. My wife is quite a gourmet, so corn oil was not an option. Anyway, not a pro job, but at least I had wheels for this morning's commute.

This winter's dragging on. Can't wait for decent biking weather.

Head Makes a Good Ice Breaker

This morning's ride was more treacherous than usual thanks to a night of freezing rain. But at first I didn't appreciate how hazardous it might be because the streets were merely wet. I rode up above Városmajor liget to drop off my boy at day care, and then back down the körút to the river without slipping or even seeing much ice at all.

Then I turned onto the riverside bike path just north of Battyannyi tér -- and bam! Down I went, as my tires slipped on a gleaming sheet of rain-slickened ice. It was so slippery, I could barely get back on my feet and onto the bike. I started peddling ever so gingerly, but my back wheel spun out anyway. Regaining traction, I followed the path very slowly to the next crossing, and then got onto the road. I wasn't keen to get into rush hour car traffic, but at least the road wasn't icy.

I was wondering why it is that while the bike path was glazed over with a half-centimeter sheet of frozen rain, the road was merely wet. It was the same last night up in Szentendre. The walking paths around our office were encrusted in ice but the roads perfectly safe.

I guess the difference is that the roads get a lot of car traffic, which wears away the ice before it can build up, and also the ever-present residue of salt from the frequent passings of salt spreaders during the winter season.

With bike paths completely neglected during winter, the only safe way to ride in snow and sleet is on the streets. This isn't the case in better biking cities. In Gothenburg, Sweden, for example, the city's "biking highways" are the first things to get cleared after a snowfall. There's a city that takes its cyclists seriously.