a ride in the snow

after spending 5 days on the trainer last week i couldn't stand the prospect of another ride there today... steve, from the cedarville ride a couple of weeks ago, had a ride listed for rosaryville tonight, so i cleaned up my singlespeed and packed up my cold weather riding gear last night and put my light battery on to charge.

traffic wasn't bad on the way down and i pulled in about 6, as ricky and mark were just finishing getting ready for a quick warmup lap. they left, and set about getting my bike and myself ready. a couple more riders showed up, including joe and mike miller.

steve led us out onto the perimeter trail, an 8-mile loop ringing the park that swoops around sides of the hollows hugging the contours in true IMBA style... in dry conditions, the trail is fast and flowy, not so with 4 inches of snow... trail conditions varied constantly, changing foot-to-foot and inch-to-inch... most of the trails had been ridden and there were sections that were packed down and solid, but if you drifted slightly to either side you'd hit soft snow and find your wheels slowing down in a hurry. traction was in short supply on the climbs, resulting in a bit of walking and turns on the downhills could be tricky if you didn't pay attention.

3/4 of the way round the loop i noticed the toe of my shoe cover had flipped up, exposing the toes of my shoes and partially covering the cleat on my shoe, making it hard to clip in... rather than trying to put it back on (difficult in the best of conditions, thanks to a broken zipper, when they're not covered in ice and full snow) i'd just pull it off... quickly realized that if i rode out the rest of trail, i'd have a frozen foot in no time flat, so i bailed soon after when we got close to the road.... after a couple of wrong turns i made it back to the trailhead just before the rest of the guys. in the end it was a little short of 2 hours...

not a long ride, but epic in its own way, thanks to the conditions and good company...