Winter Cycling - Winter, wind, fire, and summer snow.

Well, it is certianly late winter here on the front range in Central Montana.
The temprature swings over 40 degrees between night and day. The wind blows accross the high plains with vigor. So now we look forward to 3 months of wind which dry the grasses and forests. Come June we will get to look forward to the beginning of fire season. Hopefully this year won't be as bad as years past. But the drought has continued and even grown worse. By July we will be riding in smoke filled skies. Staying inside when the wind brings the ash from the forest fires and covers everything with a blanket of "summer snow." Ah snow, only 3 months to go...


I don't have the gift that naisme has, but I gave it a shot. :)

Winter is slowly departing the plains of Kansas. I don't miss the sting on my face yet but already i have found new problems. The Winter is solace, it is quiet out there. Often just the wind and the crunch of the frozen ground beneath the tires and an occasional smell of smoke from a cozy fireplace.

It's lonely and cold and often painful but it has it's merits. The last few days we have had High's in the 60's. I rode out into the country often this winter, seldom did i encounter a car once i hit the gravel. It was far more common to see a pheasant or a rabbit. Today, I almost couldn't believe it. The wind was out of the South and during a 6 mile stretch, I think i met 30 cars on the gravel road. THe dust was blinding making it dangerous to ride in.

It was an awful ride and I felt like I had been robbed of something. Apparently a near by golf course had drawn the crowd. It was a throng of newly licensed testosterone filled young linksters that were driving fast. I don't miss winter yet. But many more days like today, will start me longing.

I don't care how prosaically gifted you guys are, I will be exceptionally happy to see the end of winter!!! This late winter/early spring stuff is just torture, last Friday's high was +17C, 65F, today was -3C, 25F with a bitterly cold 30 mph wind blowing snow squalls around. I would really like to put the winter stuff away and not look at it again until late October. I won't miss it at all!!!

I don't care how prosaically gifted you guys are, I will be exceptionally happy to see the end of winter!!! This late winter/early spring stuff is just torture, last Friday's high was +17C, 65F, today was -3C, 25F with a bitterly cold 30 mph wind blowing snow squalls around. I would really like to put the winter stuff away and not look at it again until late October. I won't miss it at all!!!

I hear you, man. This early spring weather in the Hammer is killing me. I wish it would just make up it's mind. I've got some bikes in my garage that are gettin antsy(I hear them in the middle of the night and they scare me.)

I don't care how prosaically gifted you guys are, I will be exceptionally happy to see the end of winter!!! I won't miss it at all!!!

Whan that March with his snow squalls duste
Bathing Earth in dimonds thick with froste,
And Zephirus eek with his frozen breeth
Make some draw air between hir teeth,
Thanne longen cyclefolk yride
Al weathermen's omens to be defied;
and specially from every shires ende
Of America's farthest north we wende,
Over hooly whyte bikepaths for to seke,
Those endomorphines of wich we often speke.

Winter, wind, fire, and summer snow.

I saw all of those things in 2003, with the possible exception of the first one. Wind when we had that squal in February (which pales compared to the recent one), fire - take your pick which bushfire that belongs to, and summer snow in Tasmania (although I never got to ride in that :( ).

Now if they could just see their way clear to send us a winter at some point.

We got some more snow during the weekend :D. I seem to remember that most fires in Australia are started by careless / drunk / sick individuals, not by natural causes. Is it the same in the US?

--J

When I was young and in my prime,
I said I loved winter all the time.
Now that I am old and grey,
I know that I just put up with it, eh!

(with apologies to Lloyd Percival)

"I seem to remember that most fires in Australia are started by careless / drunk / sick individuals, not by natural causes. Is it the same in the US?"
The answer Juha is yes.

I don't care how prosaically gifted you guys are, I will be exceptionally happy to see the end of winter!!! This late winter/early spring stuff is just torture, last Friday's high was +17C, 65F, today was -3C, 25F with a bitterly cold 30 mph wind blowing snow squalls around. I would really like to put the winter stuff away and not look at it again until late October. I won't miss it at all!!!

Yep, Pinerider, I'm with you on this one.

Ya'll should be over here in Ohio today. Awsome snow storm, but its warm enough that the roadways are not bad. Would be fun to ride in!

We got some more snow during the weekend :D. I seem to remember that most fires in Australia are started by careless / drunk / sick individuals, not by natural causes. Is it the same in the US?

It should be noted at this point that careless/drunk/sick individuals can have an easier time or a more difficult time, depending on the weather conditions. And when you go two complete years without rain, virtually anything burns.

We got some more snow during the weekend :D. I seem to remember that most fires in Australia are started by careless / drunk / sick individuals, not by natural causes. Is it the same in the US?

--J

Most of the fires here in Montana have been of natural causes. Lightning for the most part. We did have one in the western confines of Glacier National Park that was caused by careless campers.

I saw all of those things in 2003, with the possible exception of the first one. Wind when we had that squal in February (which pales compared to the recent one), fire - take your pick which bushfire that belongs to, and summer snow in Tasmania (although I never got to ride in that :( ).

Now if they could just see their way clear to send us a winter at some point.

Wasn't it strange that fire burnt down where the snow went and destroyed my beutiful mountain bike tracks! Queensland didn't have any major fires did they?

Wasn't it strange that fire burnt down where the snow went and destroyed my beutiful mountain bike tracks! Queensland didn't have any major fires did they?

Apart from the one that blocked out the sun last month? Not really any major ones. However, there were plenty of minor ones (and minor means enough smoke to prevent me from riding :mad: ). I think the firefighters up here have learned to expect firebugs these days, and respond quickly. Either way, it appears as though my previous request for a winter has again been ignored this year.

Apart from the one that blocked out the sun last month? Not really any major ones. However, there were plenty of minor ones (and minor means enough smoke to prevent me from riding :mad: ). I think the firefighters up here have learned to expect firebugs these days, and respond quickly. Either way, it appears as though my previous request for a winter has again been ignored this year.

hmm, do you even get winters up sunny north? What temp would you call a 'cold' day?

hmm, do you even get winters up sunny north?

No.



What temp would you call a 'cold' day?

I tend to feel the cold a lot less than just about everyone else in this part of the world. I'm comfortable in anything between 10 and 15 degrees C -- anything warmer than that and I start complaining. Therein lay the problem. I can't remember a Gold Coast day that failed to reach at least 20 C in the last five years. Mind you, I had one on the Darling Downs last year that only reached 18. That was nice.