Ski and Bike Trip from Sunday

Yesterday was a glorious day. We had a lot of wet, heavy snow fall from Friday to Sunday morning and the trees were coated in the most awesome snow coating I have seen around here in a long long time.

We did our typical Sunday routine - wake up, church, Sunday School, and then we divided and conquered. I had the kids and my wife went to sister's house to hang out with them. We ran a couple of errands, ate some lunch, and I suited up. I had about 2-2.5 hours until we had to leave for Gold Medal Hockey game party at a friends house.

These are my tracks from Saturday through this meadow - there are some cool Christmas trees in a little deeper but the bike would not make it!

So after all the snow and how awesome the skiing was on Saturday I decided to hit the cross country skis even though the trail looked awesome for snowmobile trail bike riding. It was a workout getting to the snowmobile trails on the skis and I regretted it. The snow was very wet and the skis were not gliding good enough. So I headed home and planned on a quick switchover to my bike gear.


The snowmobile trail heading east and downhill. This is where I do my hill intervals on the skis and snowshoes.

The switch went painless and I hopped on the bike hoping the trail would cooperate with me.

This tree just caught my eye - seems so lonely out in the middle of a cold empty meadow. I hope to check it out this summer and see what it looks like in it's full armor!

The horse ranch by our house - the horses were as interested in me as I was in them. They probably don't see much ski traffic

My first breakout and getting ready to ski downhill. I cannot believe I can go out my backdoor and get to this fun laden area with minimal effort and no gasoline at all!

This is our front tree and you can see how the snow weighed it down because it is usually spread wide open.

My winter snowbike - Single Speed Bianchi MUSS - great bike for trails if you are willing to walk it up hill!

So I got to the trail and it was in great condition. The sun was out and I only wished I had a lot longer to ride but I told the kid's we would go to the party and I wanted to keep my word even though selfishly I wanted to ride as far as possible before dark!
A shot of my bike with the trail heading west towards Lake Erie!

I know there won't be many more days like this in the near future and I will be restricted to road riding until TransIowa and then mountain bike trails once they dry out. Days like this make me want to move to Alaska and just ride around the middle of nowhere for as long as possible.

My studded snowtires that I picked up 2 winters ago in Colorado. I should swap that out for my regular tire but it cuts into my riding time :)

Well this is where the trail heads into Chestnut Ridge Park. I biffed it pretty good a couple of times when my tire would go from smooth crusty snow to mud snow but it is all fun and games when I don't get hurt. I think I went over the handlebars 2 times on this ride. Hopefully that keeps me safe on the asphalt the rest of the year :)

Get out there and ride your bike - this is so beautiful it is hard to express in words!