I am so sad I don’t have my new camera yet, because the sites today were pretty amazing. I was supposed to have a big cocktail party last night, but early in the morning the newscasters moved the snow storm up to 4pm. So we called it off early, since I didn’t want to spend a few hundred dollars on food and booze only to have to cancel at 5pm. So instead we went to a team trainer ride indoors; it was a solid effort, but I was also coming down with a cold so I couldn’t push it very hard (another reason to cancel the party).
After the ride we ran around and did our errands and then huddled indoors. I got around 13 hours of much needed sleep, and woke up at 10am to about 3 inches of snow on the ground (we’re at 600′ of elevation). I live on a 20% grade hill, so when it snows, we are trapped.
YAY!
My original plan was to meet up in NW to ride in FP on the mountain bike, but once we started out, we realized 1) we would never get there in time, and 2) We would never get there without being hit by a car. We went about 4 blocks on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, and saw a 10 car pile up on the highway & Dosch. Ouch. Alex was freaking out about the cars, so we decided to ride to the Tryon bike path instead. Tryon was beautiful and silent, a blanket of snow covering the trees. Ahhhh. I love that, I wish I could get to Forest Park, but we a great ride. We even stopped at the Tryon Forest center thing–it was both OPEN and HEATED. Who knew? We thawed out then continued on.
It was such a fun ride; everyone was out walking around, looking at us with wide eyes. “Wow, you can bike in the snow!” And I always smiled huge and said “yes! great traction! no problem! So fun!” Yah, I had a great time. We got coffee and people kept walking by, gaping at our bikes, and then checking out our beefy tires. The temps were dropping rapidly though, and the wind picking up, so we rode for home. I even made it up the hill on my bike, something I would not be able to do in my car!
PS: Chains are now required on B-H Hwy and Barber, which is my way to work. And I have no chains. Guess I won’t be driving anywhere any time soon. 
