Freezing Rain

So I was talking to my wife this last week about the weather forecast (not because we didn't have anything else to talk about--that's why you talk about the weather with old people and people you don't know) because neither of us knew what "freezing rain" was. I was convinced that it was a fancy name for "hail" though I couldn't understand why the weather guy would waste two words instead of one unless he was trying to fill air time (which I am convinced is the case on a lot of other cable channels--there's just too many of them! You get that much specificity on TV and you run out of things to say), which couldn't have been the case because a huge "weather system" (read: "storm") was sweeping up from Texas to Maine. He had a lot of cities to cover and a lot of cool YouTube videos to show of the storm's progress.

Well I found out that it wasn't hail and it wasn't snow (my wife's idea). It's waaay more miserable than hail. Well, maybe if you own a car hail can do more permanent damage to your paint job, but it's hard to beat the miserableness of freezing rain.

If you're from a warmer climate (and I thought Texas fell in that category, but I guess not), and you don't know what freezing rain is, picture this: It's raining.

I know, sounds pretty ordinary, right?

Okay, not imagine that a city water main burst and flooded the town with water during a flash freeze. EVERYTHING is encased in ice. EVERYTHING. Even the snow on the ground is encased in ice. You want a visual? Different story, similar result.

It finally thawed enough on the roads yesterday that I was able to get out for a short ride, but it was the trainer until then.

I'm thinking more seriously about upgrading to a fluid trainer. I've put a collection jar out for my neighbors to contribute. Shouldn't be long now!