Friday, December 30, 2005

Snow ride

Date: Dec. 29
Mileage: 11.3
December mileage: 317.1
Temperature upon departure: 31

My snow ride today was slow ride. (sponsored by Adam. Thank you!) It took me nearly one and a half hours to do those 11.3 miles, mostly because I was dabbling on the ski trails while squinting against a torrent of wet, stinging flakes. And the conditions, well ... fresh, wet snow atop old rain-soaked snow means everything's soft and sinking. I was hoping to pound out 20 miles today, but I was not liking the visibility as it became dark. Plus, I had that annoying Foghat song running through my head ... Substituting some lyrics of course, and mashing my pedals to the rhythm ("snow ride ... take it easy.") Oh, and I received a dirty look from a skate skier. I always try to stay as far to the side as possible when I ride on established trails, but I think in these conditions, no one is happy.

There was one break in the blizzard early on. I pulled out my camera to snap a picture, only to find the lens, the screen, the viewfinder, pretty much everything soaked (it's not blurry - it's artistic.) It was a wet day. But a lot of fun! I am becoming much better at that whole steering thing. I'm also keeping my feet inside the cages for much longer periods of time. (Snow is a very unpredictable surface, but I am learning to trust my bike and steer through it rather than put my foot down ... just like learning to ride in sand.) I'm up to 317 outside miles this month. Think I can break 400 by New Year's? I doubt it ... but it's fun to dream.

4 comments:

  1. What do you mean "keep your feet in the cages?"

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  2. Hey. I came by your page because I'm moving to Alaska in march and was searching for little glimpses into life up there. But your training on the bike has kept me coming back. It has inspired me, if not to excersise more, then to feel guilty about not excersising more. :) I wish you the best with your goal. And I'll keep reading.

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  3. Hello Jill, you ever think about studded tires? They make them for bikes ya know! I love Ice Biking myself and the problem I have isn't staying warm! It's staying cool enough! I need another 36 miles to break 400 for Nov and Dec combined! Now I feel like a piker::GRIN:: By the way, I never asked, would you like to participate in Spinner Saturday? It's a little thing I'm running over at my blog at MSN, and my old blogspot blog both! I am tracking riding miles and collecting the data in my Spinner post on Saturdays and will accept data as latre as Sunday. I post the charts on Monday every week. I've found this to be very valuable to me to stay motivated to ride.....keeping the miles going as cycling has done so much for me as far as my weight loss goes. Drop by and let me know! I'm primarily using my msn blog and the headline of my lasy blogspot post is a redirect link to my MSN Space. Hope to see you! Especially for this weekend! I'm organizing a ride the old year out and the new year in event!

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  4. Snow rider woman you're so fine ...



    (Sorry, I couldn't resist. I once owned that Foghat album. On vinyl.)

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