Winter Solstice Ride

A hearty dozen or so revelers met at Paula Anderson's house tonight, as is the tradition, for our annual Winter Solstice ride. (This year it was a day late, but who's counting?) Lots of fresh snow made the going a bit slidey, especially at the intersections, but everyone stayed vertical.



We moved at a slow pace around town, flashing our lights, singing carols and dinging our bike bells towards anyone who would listen.

It was cold, about 12 degrees F. We had one Bubba in a white pickup truck to the engine revving, spinning tires, testosterone pump, while we were heading west on Front Street. But otherwise not another glitch to the evening.

At the intersections the cross-plowed snow was piled up and chewed to the consistency of sand. A few people commented that it was like racing the Iceman when there's no snow, (or ice,) having to push through the dunes on the singletrack. Pretty much it means throttling up and pushing your butt back behind the seat so you can ride the front tire lightly.

Speaking of light, we were all lit up like the veritable Christmas tree. This makes for a jaunty, if not festive, appearance as we move as one crazily gesticulating group through the dark streets.

We rode a few miles, first through downtown, then through the central neighborhood, and finally back on a big loop to Paula's place for hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. Paula's gorgeous daughter Amanda was waiting there with hot chocolate steaming and cookies galore!

A nice tradition.

more pictures below....




The last three photos are from in front of my house in the Midtown Neighborhood. My bike is actually ON THE SIDEWALK. You can see the green street sign refecting on the left side. The snow movers piled the it up about 15 feet tall and right over the friggin' sidewalk.