[defective]
02-10-2007, 02:32 PM
If you're going to try riding up Minnehaha Creek, I advise bringing an extra couple pair of socks and a pair of plastic bags.
It's been cold enough that the creek is rideable glare ice - mostly.
It's doable. Studs necessary. Overkill DIY studs defintiely preferred.
Despite being mostly solid. There are numerous isolated areas where the creek has frozen deeply, yet seems to force some running water and roadsalt runoff over the surface which forms slushy areas usually only a few inches deep. In some places this oversheeting has formed another crust resulting in pockets of running water over thick ice concealed under thinner ice.
I started out from Lake Hiawatha heading west past Nokomis. Mostly flat glare ice. Really beautiful. The bridges in the golf course area are too low to ride under, so I needed to walk them, either under or over. I also left the creek a couple of times to avoid deeper slush patches. I didn't want to kick up water and spray onto my shoes, and trying to ride the slush slowly wouldn't work. Too thick and slippery.
The creek west of Nokomis was much nicer, and the areas that were slushy were shallow enough to ride through. I started getting bolder, and probably only rode about a mile before I tried plowing through a slush patch that turned out to be a thin ice layer over a bubble of running water atop thicker ice. My front wheel went through. My momentum faltered. I put my feet down, and ended up stading in a foot of water.
Minnehaha Creek has defeated me this round. I doubted its treachery. Next time, I avoid all slush patches and respect the areas of ice that rise higher than their surrounding topography.
If the temp drops again for a couple of days, I'll return again better prepared. I'll also have someone around I can call for a ride if I get soaked.
Anyone interested? I'd really like to go from Lake Nokomis to Lake Harriet and back, which would be a little under four miles each way. Not sure if its frozen and bare ice all the way, but I'm willing to find out.
It's been cold enough that the creek is rideable glare ice - mostly.
It's doable. Studs necessary. Overkill DIY studs defintiely preferred.
Despite being mostly solid. There are numerous isolated areas where the creek has frozen deeply, yet seems to force some running water and roadsalt runoff over the surface which forms slushy areas usually only a few inches deep. In some places this oversheeting has formed another crust resulting in pockets of running water over thick ice concealed under thinner ice.
I started out from Lake Hiawatha heading west past Nokomis. Mostly flat glare ice. Really beautiful. The bridges in the golf course area are too low to ride under, so I needed to walk them, either under or over. I also left the creek a couple of times to avoid deeper slush patches. I didn't want to kick up water and spray onto my shoes, and trying to ride the slush slowly wouldn't work. Too thick and slippery.
The creek west of Nokomis was much nicer, and the areas that were slushy were shallow enough to ride through. I started getting bolder, and probably only rode about a mile before I tried plowing through a slush patch that turned out to be a thin ice layer over a bubble of running water atop thicker ice. My front wheel went through. My momentum faltered. I put my feet down, and ended up stading in a foot of water.
Minnehaha Creek has defeated me this round. I doubted its treachery. Next time, I avoid all slush patches and respect the areas of ice that rise higher than their surrounding topography.
If the temp drops again for a couple of days, I'll return again better prepared. I'll also have someone around I can call for a ride if I get soaked.
Anyone interested? I'd really like to go from Lake Nokomis to Lake Harriet and back, which would be a little under four miles each way. Not sure if its frozen and bare ice all the way, but I'm willing to find out.