We almost made it through the rest of 06 without snow, but despite the weatherman's predictions, we got hit last night. Woke up to 3" or more and very strong winds. It's what you would call a blizzard. Despite that I went out into the garage and quickly prepared my winter bike.

I took off the eggbeaters, mounted up the platforms and nokian studded tires and headed off into the wilderness. Quickly i learned that I was riding in what i consider to be just about the worst road conditions. It was barely below 32 F and the snow was very "squishy" and unstable. I much prefer colder weather, which freezes the roadway harder and gives a more predictable riding surface.

The wind was blowing out of the North 25-30 MPH and gusting, which stung the old face pretty good and also made the bike even more unstable. Anyway I managed to get a ride in. The snow was so paved roadways were so unstable that i actually abandoned the road in preference for riding in the ditch on a couple of sections.

The majority of my ride was on an untraveled multi-use path and the going was SLOW into the wind and with the snow resistance. Finally arrived home one hour and 38 minutes after I started. In that time I was only able to cover 13.2 miles. Wow, I forget how labor some it can be to ride in the snow. I will sleep good tonight. Hope I can stay awake long enough to see the new year.