A Record breaking Bike ride
posted by on 02/5/07
Saturday, February 3rd set some new records. First, we woke up to the coldest morning of the year and of the winter season. Hovering at 8°F., the frigid weather formed ice on my eyebrows from the condensation of my own breath.
But the freezing temperature was not the only record of the day. When the temperature had risen all the way up to the teens, Jonathan, Daniel, and I set off on our bikes to take a winter tour of scenic route Buffalo Calf! The road was completely covered in snow and seemingly treacherous. But as we slowly wound our way through the bright and picturesque landscape, we found that the road was not nearly as slick as we expected! We made incredible time and biked the 2 miles of Buffalo Calf, a feat we had never done before on bikes in the dead of winter.
Yes, it was easier than we expected, but that didn’t mean it was without difficulty. We found that biking on snow and ice is much different than under normal circumstances. Faith in our bikes’ abilities slowly decreased as brakes refused to work, spinning tires became unpredictable and unavoidable, and sliding became a factor when taking curves at high speeds. The many hills didn’t help that much either. It was a completely different type of recreation and we were all tuckered out and sweating hard when we got home.
If you ever get the chance to go snow-biking, you really ought to do it. It’s a good object lesson on faith. The temporal things you put your faith in during fair weather just aren’t good enough when conditions are unfavorable.
I have done a lot in the snow this year but biking was probably the best! The clear blue skies, ice covered lakes, and wind swept snow drifts made it one fantastic ride.
That was a lot of fun. I thought that it was going to be too slick because our driveway was so snowy and icy but it turnd out not to be so bad. It was really pretty with the deep snow. I hope we can do it again sometime.
Incredible endurance! I anticipated a run not too long ago in weather around 20-30 degrees and nearly froze to death. Biking carries you along even faster. I’m sure the sights and sounds were breathtaking and well worth the bit of pain. Does that mean we might see a picture or two on the blog that you took on the bike ride, James?
Wow! Great pictures, James. Sounds like a tremendous time! The weather here in Chicago has been hovering around zero as well. But tomorrow we’re flying to Guadalajara where it’s about 74 degrees. Ahhhh! Don’t be jealous now!
74! Wow. Temptations of jealousy did begin to come there for a minute. Or at least until I remembered our last sledding excapade. Because it was so deep we were able to slide down the hill behind the garage, on to the cement pad, and down the driveway without a bump – and at neck-breaking speeds too! Good times.
Well, I didn’t get too many pictures of the scenery. I was taking a vacation form picture taking actually.