johnridley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
johnridley) wrote2005-12-09 01:22 pm
johnridley) wrote2005-12-09 01:22 pm
Snowblower vs shovel
Well, I think I'm in good shape on my theory that snowblowers aren't really much faster than a good shovel. Or at least, they're not any more fun.
I went out to shovel the driveway this morning, and coincidentally, the neighbor had just started working on his driveway a few minutes before. Our driveway is a bit longer than his by about 10 feet, they're both 12 feet wide. I scraped ours down a bit better than he did. He has a big blower, probably 4 feet wide, mounted on the front of a pretty hefty Deere tractor. I have a "dozer" style shovel, the kind that, if you push it forwards fast, it throws the snow out in front of you, rather like a blower. IMHO these are by far the best shovels. We finished right about the same time, I think he was inside about 2 minutes before me, but he was out at least that long before I started. I didn't really push too hard, I could have finished faster.
I clear about a 5 foot swath at a time by walking down the center of the drive, and pushing the shovel to the side with my right hand, swinging my upper body from the hip. I get a shovel width x 5 feet about every 4 seconds. This is faster than I can cover ground with the snowblower, especially when you count the time you spend horsing the blower around, backing up, etc.
Whether it's faster or not, the good part is, I finally worked up a decent sweat; my base layer was almost dripping wet. I've felt like such a slug, I haven't been on the bike for over a week, despite the great cold weather we've been having. Decided that in light of the cold virus I've been fighting, I probably shouldn't do any heavy breathing in subzero weather, even though the rest of my body always feels a lot better after the exercise. I do have a new PSolarX balaclava with a heat exchanger to breathe through, but I haven't had it out for a trial yet so I don't know how effective it will be in subzero weather. I'm concerned that if it fogs my glasses or goggles too much to ride with, I may have to take it off in mid-ride and lose the air warmer.
Next week, I'm back on the bike. The snow pack does a great job of levelling out the bumpy gravel road.
I went out to shovel the driveway this morning, and coincidentally, the neighbor had just started working on his driveway a few minutes before. Our driveway is a bit longer than his by about 10 feet, they're both 12 feet wide. I scraped ours down a bit better than he did. He has a big blower, probably 4 feet wide, mounted on the front of a pretty hefty Deere tractor. I have a "dozer" style shovel, the kind that, if you push it forwards fast, it throws the snow out in front of you, rather like a blower. IMHO these are by far the best shovels. We finished right about the same time, I think he was inside about 2 minutes before me, but he was out at least that long before I started. I didn't really push too hard, I could have finished faster.
I clear about a 5 foot swath at a time by walking down the center of the drive, and pushing the shovel to the side with my right hand, swinging my upper body from the hip. I get a shovel width x 5 feet about every 4 seconds. This is faster than I can cover ground with the snowblower, especially when you count the time you spend horsing the blower around, backing up, etc.
Whether it's faster or not, the good part is, I finally worked up a decent sweat; my base layer was almost dripping wet. I've felt like such a slug, I haven't been on the bike for over a week, despite the great cold weather we've been having. Decided that in light of the cold virus I've been fighting, I probably shouldn't do any heavy breathing in subzero weather, even though the rest of my body always feels a lot better after the exercise. I do have a new PSolarX balaclava with a heat exchanger to breathe through, but I haven't had it out for a trial yet so I don't know how effective it will be in subzero weather. I'm concerned that if it fogs my glasses or goggles too much to ride with, I may have to take it off in mid-ride and lose the air warmer.
Next week, I'm back on the bike. The snow pack does a great job of levelling out the bumpy gravel road.
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I still hate using the blower, it's noisy and stinky, if there's a wind I get loads of snow in my face, and the dog and kids don't come out to keep me company when I'm using it. It's a lot more hassle to store and maintain than the shovel, also. If I hadn't gotten the blower for free, I never would have bought one for use around here.
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I'm semi-serious. When I first got it, and first got it running, the 2-cycle exhaust brought back memories of snowmobiling in my youth.
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K.
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Probably the most annoying thing is due to the restricted non-sidewalk, non-driveway area, snow has to be *carried* back to one of the acceptable places.