Despite closures across Colorado, many workers have to brave the cold
As many school districts announced yet another day of closures due to the cold on Tuesday, parents scrambled to plan for their children being home.
Many construction sites were shut down Monday due to cold that reached below zero along the Front Range. Many construction workers just went to work.
"Oh, I love it. Good exercise," said Michael Baca, as he shoveled outside the 7-Eleven at East 17th Avenue and Logan Street.
"Yeah, it's pretty cold," he said as he worked. "Feels good at the end of the day when you get 'er done."
RELATED: One more night of dangerous cold weather in Colorado
Outdoor workers are largely laborers. They get things cleared, delivered and kept safe and keep things going.
John Riecke was on his bike, which he rides for work, but Monday, it was a trip to the dentist.
"I think they're in their cars just shivering. You know, trying to get where they're going. They probably don't notice me," he said about drivers. It's only a 10-minute drive from where he lives into town and a car would not warm up much, so he views a bike trip as not much different.
"On packed snow like this, it's actually not bad at all. Wider tires make it a little easier but as you're taking your time and you're not trying to zoom around corners, you're OK," Riecke said.
Outside a restaurant, Jaden Wright rolled supplies down the steep ramp on the truck he drives and delivered goods. He had just finished delivering 300 cases of water. His dolly holds about 10 at a time.
"It's just straight down just no brakes, kind of just praying I get to the bottom," he laughed. Getting out of the warm truck and into the cold and back again is a sharp change. He had thin coats, but one was heated.
"Sweating underneath. On the outside I'm freezing," he said.
A few blocks away, Luis Diaz was delivering food for Jimmy John's on his bicycle.
"That's what I get for trying to be the funny guy in class instead of studying. So now here I am," laughed Diaz. "Although it's slippery and dangerous, it's kind of nice because less traffic. There's less people you know."
His bike had thin tires, but he kept his bike with heavier tires for fun: "I'm trying to stay on the street, but this brown sugary snow is very, very slippery, so there's no traction."
Diaz said he likes the quiet of a winter day and doesn't feel the need to complain at all: "If I'm complaining on the first bad day of winter then I have a heck of a winter ahead."
