So, this morning, as I’m apt to do when running errands, I decided to go to the Potomac Yard Target (needed to get glitter glue for M to make some slime at home) rather than one in DC/closer to home because “yay miles!” On my way to Target, I noticed that the two MVT overpasses by the airport had not yet cleared up since the last snowstorm; with my 32mm slick tires on, I pretty much had to walk my bike across. I hate walking my bike. So – in addition to the glue, I picked up a small “car shovel” and decided to see what I could do in the hopes that at least that part of the trail wouldn’t be an absolute disaster come Monday’s deep freeze. Since I was coming from that way, I started on the south one.
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After about 15 minutes – I realized that buying the “car shovel” was a mistake for the amount of ice that was holding onto everything there. It was working, but it would be hard to do more than clear a small path before being completely spent. I was about to toss it aside and go back to get a “real” shovel when another cyclist stopped, asked if I needed any help, and proceeded to get to work while I went on another Target run.
By the time I returned, he had managed to finish the path to the other end and a bit more, which made clearing a wider path with the bigger shovel much easier. He took off on his errand, promising to check back on his way back through and help again. Within in hour of work starting, we had something resembling a cleared path:
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Once I haphazardly bungeed the two shovels to my bike, I took off north for the second overpass. The bungee job was lacking, so I ended up dragging the handles the last few hundred yards. This overpass was even worse:
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No more than a couple of minutes after starting, another cyclist showed up and offered to help out. We kept the same system as I’d made up on the previous overpass – use the small shovel to start a path as best as it could, and the larger one to sweep more of the debris to the side. About halfway through (shortly after Judd rolled through on his way to assess things further south for Monday’s event), another cyclist stopped, asked to help, and relieved the other guy who had done a yeoman’s job with the small shovel. Before we knew it, and this time in less than an hour’s work, we had something like this:
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We wrapped up just as the first volunteer arrived. I thanked them both again, and set off to pack up and see if I could carry two shovels home, after doing some “cool down” cleanup of the random icy spots just north of the first overpass. (It was easy to avoid, but in the way nonetheless.)
Trying to pack up the bike with only the rear rack (I was on my “fun” bike) occupied by the two panniers was awkward at best. While making my way back to the 14th Street bridge, the bungee partially snapped, causing one of the shovels to lean awkwardly to the side. Lest I strike a passing cyclist or runner in the face, I opted to abandon the larger shovel behind the bathrooms in the LBJ Grove parking lot. So – if anyone needs a shovel until I’m able to try to retrieve it, which may be never – have at it! (Without a pannier on the back, it bungees quite nicely – similar to how reji demonstrated in an earlier post. It just did not work well with the setup I had with me at the time.)
Then – because a small snow shovel works almost as well as a broom – I was able to put it to good use close to home by clearing some broken glass off of the MBT. (It wasn’t until I was almost on top of it that I realized it wasn’t just broken ice chunks.)
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All in all – a good day, made much better by the three generous folks who were able to stop and help, as well as those who were appreciative. (I’m sure many more would’ve offered to help if I had more shovels for folks to use, but that would’ve required foresight and planning, which is not my style.)
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