Quoted message said:Qui si parla Campagnolo said:geezzz,what a mess. 6 ft high drifts from the plowing, rutted, icey
streets, particularly the side streets. Not gonna ride for a while.
Maybe, with temps above freezing for a week, maybe it'll be clear
enough to ride. BUT ain't gonna ride indoors either.....
Dear Peter,
I was walking my dog yesterday down in Pueblo, where we have only a
few inches of snow, but the streets in my neighborhood are icy and
snowpacked.
I was wearing my Yak Trax for traction (tire chains for shoes) and
congratulating myself for being so sensible and for not trying to ride
on the wretched streets when . . .
Two bicyclists came into view down the street.
Fine, I thought, probably a couple of foolish young fellows on
mountain bikes. Some frozen toes and a few bruises will teach them to
imitate their wiser elders.
The two bicyclists came closer.
Ha! They're going very slowly, I thought, and probably regretting
their foolish decision to try to bicycle when more experienced riders
have given up.
The two bicyclists came close enough for me to see . . .
A pair of little girls, happily trundling around on the icy streets
for fun, both grinning like Halloween pumpkins.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
So long as we're OT, the sky's the limit, eh?
No, no, no, you've got it all wrong that bicycles and winter don't
mix. There are only 2 enemies of the winter cyclist: motorized
vehicles (rutting and dirtying the snow) and the emissions they create
(melting it). Soon those girls will understand and have less reason
to smile. Remove the traffic, and there ain't nothing more thrilling
than a snowscape, esp a freshly plowed road through deep snow into
high, rugged mtns, where it's too hard to live, so no one does.
Unfortunately that plowing is usually undertaken for the benefit of
motorized traffic, which quickly ruins it (ruts, slush, salt, etc).
But when a logging company, or rich people in isolated remote estates,
plow it to an eventual dead-end, cars have no use for it and you get
long glorious stretches through breathtaking scenery, and traction the
equal of summertime. And so long as there is no ice, you don't even
need studs. Unfortunately at the end you find a large tract where
there was a forest yesterday that is gone today, and wild animals
wandering about seemingly lost, dazed, and no longer smiling. At that
point I too stop smiling, and reluctantly turn back. Unfortunately they
don't plow Sunday afternoon so I had to turn back, but can hardly wait
for Monday! I'll feel like a kid again.
Bill Westphal