Like you, lph...first commute since December 17th. Loooong time to be away from work. I was very excited about the commute...not so excited about going back to work. It was about 23 degrees with a wind chill of about 15 degrees so I dressed appropriately. I felt great the entire ride - never cold. But...the ice!!! A running friend had warned me that there would be patches of ice on the Capital Crescent Trail. Initially, it wasn't bad. The ice was in the middle of the trail so I could easily get by. I had decided early on that I was going to be careful - ride slowly - and if I was late for work...so be it. I saw lights in front of me and knew it was my buddy, Chip. I yelled to him when I caught up to him and he immediately warned me about the ice ahead. He said that we would eventually have to get off and walk the bikes. There were a few stretches where there were so many patches of ice - with only about an inch to get by - so as soon as I heard him unclip, I would unclip one shoe and we would walk with one shoe unclipped (glide...slide...skate!!) through. But when we got to that really icy stretch...OH MY! It was about 100 yards of very thick, choppy ice. We had to get off the bikes and slide for 100 yards. But wow...what a beautiful, wonderful commute!!! The Potomac is frozen and absolutely gorgeous. Snow flakes started to fall. Can you tell I'm happy? Slightly crazy but oh so happy! I love my winter commute, too, lph. Oh...and we were the only 2 bike commuters out there. I felt special.