Salting Drives and Slippery Slopes

"What are we going to do today, Uncle Thad?"

"The same thing we do every Friday Claire, try to take over the world!"

The ice/snow storm last night set off a chain of canceled events for my Friday. So much for planning ahead. Luckily no one got stranded on the side of the road or wrecked a car trying to get out to the middle of BFE for a gravel grinder. Instead I enjoyed a leisurely morning, got to hang out with Miss Claire while Hannah did some chores, then suited up and headed out for what was to be a nice long snow day ride on the Highland Ridge.

The melting salts were doing a good job of clearing the icy ruts in the driveway and the main road looked pretty clear. My clothing choices felt good and the toe warmers were kicking in nicely. I was ready to enjoy the sunny blue skies and white powdery scenery.

That is until I started down on of the 2 road options from the house. Both downhills were solid sheets of ice. Several cars were abandoned along the ditch from last night, apparently unable to safely traverse the hill. It was dicey heading down, but my Aspens were holding a decent line as long as I stayed in the snowy shoulder. That is until I'd hit a snow covered ice spot. Heading up the hill the other side had more of the same. Up wasn't too bad, but I stopped and turned around before the top knowing the longer, steeper hills ahead were going to be even sketchier to descend safely. I cut my losses and headed back to the house with a measly 3.5 miles on the odometer. It wasn't worth risking a busted hip or elbow from losing to the ice. Meh.

 Abandoned car. The right side of the road is shoulder-less with a steep drop-off. Guardrails, wha?

Playing in the snow. Even old man Dish came out for a trail run. 

I went back inside and grabbed the Surly which was still sitting in mtb gearing from when I took Josh the vagrant mountain biking during his short stay in Nashvegas. I wanted to ride the Moots, but I didn't feel like swapping the gravel gear off only to reswap it again for Sunday. So I went old school 1x1 and headed out back with the pups for some snowy trail fun.

Rim brakes and snow. Awesome.

After riding, I swapped cold weather clothes and went out hiking for another hour and a half with JD. All in all getting a solid 4 hours of snowy fun in before heading in to cook dinner for the soon to be waking for work H. A decent day of improvisational activity if I do say so myself, which I do. Did.

Looks like even more snow is in the forecast for the coming week. This winter is starting to feel more like Northern Illinois than typical middle TN weather. It's been kind of fun, though I could do without the ice.