The winter cycling season has begun! Yesterday's trip to work was four miles of unplowed, creamy soft powder, and six miles of mostly plowed roads. It was a good reintroduction to winter cycling, as I had powder, hardpack, loose ice, and solid ice. The real payoff, though, was the trip home -- perfectly clear, black sky, incredibly bright moonlight reflecting off seemingly endless snowfields along the black flow of Four Mile Run, and Christmas lights everywhere. It was like being in a Currier and Ives print. After I got home, we went out to dinner and then settled down by the fire for our family tradition of reading A Christmas Carol aloud every night. I relaxed with my Laphroaig and reflected that this is how the Christmas season should be, and that the evening's commute was the essance of cycling.
Paul