Three men, and an idiot

As time for the thursday night ride drew near, the weekly e-mail of time and place was circulated.

the subject was..Are we men, or just idiots?

and the message: Plug those lights in. It’s time to man up and see how many layers are required to ride in 25* temps. I’ll bring a thermos of apple cider & cuervo to share, since I’m not sure I’ll be wanting a post-ride cold beer. Bring your own insulated mug. I was thinking of meeting at the round-about and hitting a couple loops from there, but we could also meet at the Research Park back lot again and repeat either Mortendad or Dick Less-to-Traverse. Thoughts?

and then, mother nature threw us a welcome curveball. It wasn’t just going to be cold, over the past 24 hours the trails have collected 6-10 inches of snow. good stuff.

but, as it turns out, our group of four is comprised of three men made the call not to ride in these conditions (doesn’t help that two of them still have mechanical issues from our last night ride), and one idiot.. The idiot being myself..

I had already left the house when I received word (yes, I am one of those annoying people that take their cell phones on rides) that the ride was not going to happen tonight. But I was bundled up, I had my lights charged, and i had been looking forward to a ride since running errands on my cross bike, so I decided to push on. And then I crashed. immediately. Black ice on the roadways. No pain, no damage, keep riding gingerly until i can get off the roads, and pay more attention to the road surface, particularly in the turns..

I rode the Perimeter/Walnut canyon loop. Always a good ride, one that I know well enough that I can comfortably recognize the trail..in the dark..under the snow..But, some common sense did prevail, rather than starting at the western area entrance (which would’ve meant a lot of hike-a-bike during a long technical climb), I cheated over to the Urban road entrance. And it was good. very good. A few people had hiked the trails, so there was no problem following it on the bike. The climbs were gentle enough,or short enough, that I was able to keep the Gunnar rolling up most of them. And the descents were exhillirating! the snow was deep enough that i was able to float over many of the obstacles (and downed trees lining the trails) without thinking of them. However, Walnut Canyon was a different story, with the rocky turns taking on a new dimension when covered with snow and ice. two quick crashes had me checking the speed, and the final climb out of the canyon was a definite hike-a-bike as there was no traction to be found.

HIDs may not be the best choice for night riding in the snow, as all of my depth perception was completely whited out..

26F when I left the house, 16F when I made it back home..

and yes, I could’ve used some warm cider and cuervo!!