Life On Two Wheels

Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Monday, January 01, 2007

Ice'd in

North Bend, WA
Monday, January 01, 2007

So it rained on Christmas and snowed two days later. They’ve decided that the best approach to clearing the roads is no approach at all… Not to say that we are the victims of East King County residents or anything. You’d think that living on the edge of the mountains would constitute the need for an overabundance of snow blowers, but I guess not. If I knew they weren’t spending the money on other stuff I’d be happy, but unfortunately that’s not the case. So if I die early from doing the last week of my endurance-ish rides on the trainer then the crime belongs at their door.
Not to say that the snow’s ever stopped me from riding out doors in the past. Back in the days when I was seemingly invulnerable I’d take the snow days in a stride, excited to head out on the fixed gear for a little icy action. Believe it or not, I never had any trouble… the pedal action worked superbly as a break on ice & with a little respect to the ruts the fixie was like a sleigh on snow. Surprisingly I never went down, and now that I look back on it that seems a bit remarkable.
Of course, I did once have a bad experience with ice. I was commuting to school one brisk morning, think’n little of the possible presence of ice. I should’ve thought of it ‘cause the frost was all along the road in places. But I didn’t, I got to the top of this hill where you turn abruptly onto another road at a very slow speed. I couldn’t have imagined that ice would be in this particular locale, but I hit that ice without a chance in the world. All the way to school I was pondering what’d caused me to crash, and finally, when I arrived, I realized that it must’ve been ice. Crashing with a 40 pound pack on your back could never’ve been more painful.