Quiet riding

I'm in the Boston Massachusetts area and we've had a very cold winter this year. A nearby Lake,
Quannopowitt, has a very smooth ice surface after a rainstorm last weekend. For the past week I've
been enjoying the ride around the lake with Nokian 296's. Two days ago we had 3" of light powder
snow. It's made the trip around more difficult but the ride is surreal. I can only hear a faint hum
from the tires. It's about 3 miles around and I've made 8 laps so far. Only fell once. After the
snowfall, I couldn't see a crack in the ice and it dropped me. Got a little squirrelly sometimes
when I've tried to make figure eights, slaloming around my previous path in the snow. Can't get too
aggressive with the turns. The occasional crunch of thin ice at air pockets gets my attention,
pedal a little faster thru those areas ;-) I'll be glad to see the spring come but I'll miss the
quiet rides.

--
DTW .../\.../\.../\...

 

"D T W .../\..." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm in the Boston Massachusetts area and we've had a very cold winter this year. A nearby Lake,
> Quannopowitt, has a very smooth ice surface after a rainstorm last weekend. For the past week I've
> been enjoying the ride around the lake with Nokian 296's. Two days ago we had 3" of light
powder
> snow. It's made the trip around more difficult but the ride is surreal.
I
> can only hear a faint hum from the tires. It's about 3 miles around and I've made 8 laps so far.
> Only fell once. After the snowfall, I couldn't see a crack in the ice and it dropped me. Got a
> little squirrelly sometimes when I've tried to make figure eights, slaloming around my previous
> path in the snow. Can't get too aggressive with the turns. The occasional crunch of thin ice at
> air pockets gets my attention, pedal a little faster thru those areas ;-) I'll be glad to see the
> spring come but I'll miss the quiet rides.
>
> --
> DTW .../\.../\.../\...
>
>

I tend to relate to that kind of story and experience more than most other stories. I gravitate to
the quiet times lately. I think it energizes me. Is that a contradiction? I've never had the kind of
ride that you rr'd but your description was well done. Makes me want to try it some day.

Thanks.

Marty

 

"D T W .../\..." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm in the Boston Massachusetts area and we've had a very cold winter this year. A nearby Lake,
> Quannopowitt, has a very smooth ice surface after a rainstorm last weekend. For the past week I've
> been enjoying the ride around the lake with Nokian 296's. Two days ago we had 3" of light
powder
> snow. It's made the trip around more difficult but the ride is surreal.
I
> can only hear a faint hum from the tires. It's about 3 miles around and I've made 8 laps so far.
> Only fell once. After the snowfall, I couldn't see a crack in the ice and it dropped me. Got a
> little squirrelly sometimes when I've tried to make figure eights, slaloming around my previous
> path in the snow. Can't get too aggressive with the turns. The occasional crunch of thin ice at
> air pockets gets my attention, pedal a little faster thru those areas ;-) I'll be glad to see the
> spring come but I'll miss the quiet rides.
>
> --
> DTW .../\.../\.../\...
>
>

Silence is nice. The only sound being the voices in your head your tires breaking snow.

My kind of meditation.

Lance

 

On Sat, 08 Mar 2003 19:42:48 GMT, "D T W .../\\..." <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'm in the Boston Massachusetts area and we've had a very cold winter this year. A nearby Lake,
> Quannopowitt, has a very smooth ice surface after a rainstorm last weekend. For the past week I've
> been enjoying the ride around the lake with Nokian 296's. Two days ago we had 3" of light powder
> snow. It's made the trip around more difficult but the ride is surreal. I can only hear a faint
> hum from the tires. It's about 3 miles around and I've made 8 laps so far. Only fell once. After
> the snowfall, I couldn't see a crack in the ice and it dropped me. Got a little squirrelly
> sometimes when I've tried to make figure eights, slaloming around my previous path in the snow.
> Can't get too aggressive with the turns. The occasional crunch of thin ice at air pockets gets my
> attention, pedal a little faster thru those areas ;-) I'll be glad to see the spring come but I'll
> miss the quiet rides.

Nice The mind serves properly as a window glass rather than as a reflector, that is, the mind should
give an immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world.
:-]

 

"D T W .../\..." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm in the Boston Massachusetts area and we've had a very cold winter this year. A nearby Lake,
> Quannopowitt, has a very smooth ice surface after a rainstorm last weekend. For the past week I've
> been enjoying the ride around the lake with Nokian 296's. Two days ago we had 3" of light
powder
> snow. It's made the trip around more difficult but the ride is surreal.
I
> can only hear a faint hum from the tires. It's about 3 miles around and I've made 8 laps so far.
> Only fell once. After the snowfall, I couldn't see a crack in the ice and it dropped me. Got a
> little squirrelly sometimes when I've tried to make figure eights, slaloming around my previous
> path in the snow. Can't get too aggressive with the turns. The occasional crunch of thin ice at
> air pockets gets my attention, pedal a little faster thru those areas ;-) I'll be glad to see the
> spring come but I'll miss the quiet rides.
>
> --
> DTW .../\.../\.../\...

3 hours south of here (where it sometimes snows but can't freeze much more than a bucket of water
which would thaw by lunchtime, let alone a lake) there is a very tiny country town. This town, in
an attempt to try to attract visitors before it becomes a ghost town, has put in some mountain
bike trails. These trails are a still very little known. I know about them because it's my wife's
town of birth, and her cousin was the Ranger at the time when they were put in. But not many
others seem to know about them, so I'm often the only person on them. The sound of silence, bar
the birds, and the breeze in the trees, and the tyres on the leaf covered firetrail, is just the
most amazing experience. I'd be able to ride for a 100Kms of a trail like this and not even notice
the distance because of the beauty of the solitude. And what's more I wouldn't have to concentrate
on the riding because I wouldn't be afraid of crashing on the ice. How I'd love to try something
like you rode, at least once in my life time.

Trentus