Pickle Biker

Me: "Hey Daniel, that looks good!  Who are all those bikers?"
DNL: "There's you and mommy and me and Ellen. We are climbing a hill."
Me: "What's that roundy thing?"
DNL: "That's a pickle riding a bike."
ME: "Why?"
DNL: "I just thought it would be funny to see a pickle riding a bike!"

Pickles like to ride bikes too.

Biking: Cold or Not

Everyone else is still cooped up inside, but we're outside and having fun on our bikes!

Ellen rides among the fallen snowmen. 

Daniel passes by the snow mound.

Snow Melt

Wow, what a difference a week makes. Clear roads, except for cinders and pot holes of which there were plenty, with very little snow in the landscape.  It was 41 degrees when I rolled out.  The trails are certainly in no shape for riding, so the road it is.

Under a US30 overpass.

Very aware the low lying areas likely have flooded and closed roads, I stuck to the high ground.  I did get a good look at the Funk bottoms from Elyria Road and there was not as much standing water as I had imagined.

It was a nice ride in the sun.

Mohican Snow - plan B

Ryan and I went down to Mohican in hopes of some trail riding.  The roads were clear on the way down, but we have 8 to 10" in the yards.  We were hoping for some tracks to follow on the trail, but I got a bad feeling when we pulled in the parking lot.  First, we didn't park in the MTB parking lot as it had never been plowed.  Second, there were a couple guys on mountain bikes riding in circles in the lot but not heading to the trail head.  Eventually they headed out on the road.  Not a good sign.

We got out of the car and realized there were no tracks in the snow heading into the woods from the parking lot.  Was it even rideable?  We gave it a try, which the other guys apparently did not, and our progress was measured in feet.  This is no good.  After a few minutes of playing around we realized it was going to be a road ride, on mountain bikes.

Cinders on back roads.

Not having planned a route, we headed for Landoll's castle.  It quickly became clear it was a good thing we were on mountain bikes.  These roads would not have been fun or even safe on a cross bike.  There was a good layer of crunched snow.

Not much clear pavement.

It was in the 20's but staying warm was not a problem.  There was some windy beat downs from time to time, depending on which way we headed and how many trees were around.  We got in several good climbs that had me standing on the singlespeed to keep her going.  It was a good workout and felt like a longer ride than it was.  Not bad for a plan B!

Windy in the open!