30 Degrees - 30 Miles

It was only 30 degrees out but the thought of another day riding in the basement put me over the top. So I spent a half an hour pulling, strapping and zipping on every piece of winter riding gear that I have and rolled the bike outdoors. The wind was painfully cold for the first few miles but the sun was bright and after my face froze into position and my lungs recovered from the shock it was almost business as usual. I took my favorite route north and west. Although everything is still buried under snow you could almost sense the coming of spring. The angle of the sun, the intermittent chirping of a bird and a bright green sprig of evergreen gave hope after a long and cold winter. And then, BAM! Five snowmobilers crossed the road right in front of me and jolted me back to reality. Spring is still not here. Not by a long shot.

I think the snowmobiles were made by Polaris (And yes, Mike, that gives me the excuse to run the related photo at the very bottom of this post. You're welcome.).

Elvis rides the snowmobile trail

After the sound of the whining snowmobiles died away all was peaceful again. A few miles later I was enjoying a long, fast downhill and as I came around a bend at 35 mph I almost plowed into a herd of white-tail deer. Eleven of them were standing in the middle of the road and were just as startled as I was by the sudden meeting. The squealing of the brakes brought them back to attention and en masse they jumped the fence and scurried into a field. I recovered quick enough to take this photo in which you can see five of them. Sorry for the grainy picture but with the zoom fully extended and then some heavy duty enlarging in Photoshop this is the best I could do.

Oh, deer!

The remainder of the ride was uneventful other than the sun was dipping low and the temperature even lower. By the time I arrived home the sun had set and the little bit of energy drink left in my bottle had frozen (it's hard to take on fluids when the stuff is so cold that it hurts your teeth every-time you take a sip). Although shivering and exhausted by the cold ride I was happy to have been able to get some road miles under my wheels. Outside miles are always better than inside miles. Better for physical fitness and better for psychological well-being. Snowmobiles notwithstanding.

That's a fine pair of snowmobiles