Little Tabor

The professionals battled on the ice and snow in Tabor, Czech Republic this weekend. Amateurs in Durham awoke to similarly slippery conditions.

Geoph planned to plow our path, so our tires would touch not but pavement, but he didn't have a shovel and the rest of us had plenty of other stuff to do, so we toughened-up and got on with our snowy ride.

True, this was a mere dusting of snow, compared to the arctic winters our dear friends in Winnipeg endure, but still, it's pretty substantial for Durham. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade (provided that life has also given you ample amounts of sugar). When life gives you icy roads, make an epic bike ride out of it.

It was cold, but we brought something to warm our hearts.

Inspired by smAli's Phonak jacket, we tried to test Floyd's "Jack Daniels Defense" and see if whiskey actually increases testosterone. I cannot confirm that Early Times either (1) increased testosterone or (2) served as a performance-enhancing supplement, but it may have emboldened our recklessness.

At this point in the ride, my camera battery died, but you'll have to take my word for it that we did indeed shred the Al Buehler trail. And by "shred" I mean pedaled hard and rode slowly. We avoided crashing (much) and Linus managed some rad air and invented a new heel-skid dismount. We received many puzzled looks from kids and adults, sledding and not sledding. One die-hard runner gave us a cheer of encouragement and received a high-five for her effort.

Riding in snow is great fun...once, maybe twice per year. Suffice to say, it's more fun than yet another oval speedway race or riding an indoor trainer. But now that the roadways have turned to slush/ice, they've become a dangerous nuisance, both to steel frames and unbroken bones. So, enough with this winter crap, bring on the springtime. As the temperature warms, I'm ready to re-enact this ride with mint juleps.