The city has a policy of not really touching residential streets unless there is 4" of new snow, the Parks Dept. thankfully doesn't have that same policy and they were out clearing the cycling infrastructure before we made it to N Street. Really appreciate the dedicated folks who get out there early after the snow to make sure that those who might use something besides an automobile to get around have a clear path to do so.
Everyone else got the same memo I did as far as the forecast went, they said it was supposed to be mostly cloudy and breezy, knocking the "feels like" temps down into the negative numbers but what we got was hardly any wind and sun as far as the eye could see. This meant that we were all pretty toasty by the time we got to Wilderness so the layer shedding ritual commenced before we hit the single track.
As we were shedding clothes and dropping PSI, Otis and Pat showed up. We weren't really expecting either but it's always nice to have unexpected guests on the Saturday Morning ride.
I think the more you ride in the winter, the more you learn to identify your friends by the bikes that they ride because trying to identify them by their face is often a difficult task. Hi Sarah!
For the most part the trails were in great shape, I know that a person can ride a bicycle of smaller tires just fine in winter but nothing flattens out the trail surface quite like a group of fat bikes rolling through, looking back the trail we left behind us was near perfect.
A bridge stop is almost mandatory any time you're out in Wilderness, so of course we stopped there and had a little anti freeze to help keep the motor running at peak performance. Looked like we also missed a Batman sighting, didn't know he was a fan of the fat bike but I can't say as I am all that surprised either.
By the time we made it through the Park and down to the 14th Street trail head, the clouds had started to roll hiding the sun, making things a bit chillier than they had been. There is a little bit of ice under the fresh snow in a few places south of Old Cheney, seeing it is sometimes a challenge until you're on top of it and can lead to some pucker moments. I think this is why sometimes I'll be a bit sore in unusual places on Sunday mornings, the muscles you put into sudden action to stay upright are not muscles you use all that often but it's nice to have them rather than to end up face down on a sheet of ice.
We opted to take speed over twisty fun on the way back and jumped on the Jamaican Trail back into town, it was actually a little harder going since there weren't really any bicycle tracks on the trail until after we had passed through. Once back in town folks started splitting off, ending another great Saturday Morning No Drop Fat Bike Ride.
As is almost always the case, there was an after party for those who wanted to tag along. This week we ended up at Yia Yia's for great food and beer while we watched the folks who were participating in the Bar Stool Open walk up and down O Street in their costumes. Good times!
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