A Little Fun In The Snow

December 8, 2013

Third day now below the freezing mark ..... I'm about to succumb to cabin fever. I was out on the roads a bit earlier in the day, and the secondary roads were still very icy. We had some freezing drizzle this morning which made things even worse. So .... not going to chance getting out on the roads even on the mountain bike. I've got a decent spin bike here inside .... but after 3 days of riding that, I've managed to bore myself to near death. It will, give me a heck of an interval workout in 45 minutes, which is about all I can stand of it. Notice my little fan addition clipped on the handlebars.... a six dollar wonderful gadget that may not keep me from sweating entirely, but does keep it down to a manageable level.

First, before I venture out on the trail, there are some things I change. Clip on pedals come off. Clips and cleats both get packed full of snow and don't work all that well, and with snow, and slippery conditions, when I need to stab a foot ..... I need to do it right now! So, a 15mm wrench and a few minutes .... turn both pedals to the rear to loosen, and both pedals to the front to tighten, I soon have platforms on. A lot of people worry about left and right threads, and which pedal has which ..... just remember that simple rule, and you will never again tighten a pedal to death trying to take it off.

And then it's "hit the trail" .... and not literally, I managed to stay upright. The ground under the snow never froze because we had snow before the bitter cold temps arrived and the snow insulated the ground and kept it from freezing hard, so there has been a little thawing from underneath even though the temperature outside has never been above 25 degrees. Still, it was challenging and fun, especially on the uphill parts.

A bit more open takes the worry of crashing into a tree away.

And .... you can see from the smile that I'm having fun. No fancy riding clothes out here, just practical clothes for the conditions. It IS 25 degrees and a 12 mph breeze.

Back through the trees again.

I finally got enough confidence in my ability to set the camera, run to the bike, get on and start pedaling without falling over, and do it all in the ten seconds that the self timer gives me. So, you get an action shot coming towards the camera.

Because this is all on my property, I can leave the camera mounted on the tripod while I go dashing around the trail for a bit, and do so without worry. Normally, on most road rides, or public trail rides, I wouldn't take the big tripod, but here, it's such a nice convenience to get me into the pictures.

I wasn't out but about an hour all told, but had a lot of fun slipping and sliding, dashing and thrashing. Finally, however, I had enough, and called it quits, picked up my stuff and went back to the house. I'm ready for it to warm up a bit! At least enough to melt the ice on the roads. Happy Trails!