1st snow ride of the season.

I didn't plan on a snow ride, it just turned out that way.
Originally I planned on getting up to Rosarvyille for a normal 2 lap weekend ride but as I left the house the forcasted precip started.

It wasn't going to amount to much, but I can't drive in the snow. We'll I'm not very good at it and try to avoid it as much as possible. In my defense I do drive a rear 2 wheel drive pickup. With an empty bed, with no weight, its one of the worst vehicles you can pick for snow and ice.

I decided to go ahead and make it Cedarville. Its 20 minutes closer.
This was my first real cold weather ride this season. I wasn't looking foward to it. I'm not a big fan of cold rides. I know, compared to alot of places people ride it wasn't really cold but compared to last weekends 70 degrees, this shit was cold.

It was somewhere around 25-30 degrees. I had to search all the usual place for my cold riding gear. You know, those pieces that you use for layering that get scattered and lost when spring finally arrives.

So I had my windproof tights, under armor layer, insulated jersey, windproof hat, and my heavy duty Cannodale gloves. Props to Cannondale for the gloves. Evan without the liners the hands were toasty.

I wait till I get to the trailhead to finish getting dressed. Look around the truck and I can't find my windbreaker.
Shit!
Probly the most important piece of equipment and I left it in the garage.
This looked like a good excuse to bag the whole cold, snowy ride but I couldn't do it. I had to atleast get out for 10 minutes.

I use my normal fleece jacket as my top layer. This thing sucks. It doesn't stop the wind and it acts like a sponge for sweat.

I take off and am miserable. The snows coming down at a good clip, I can't see and my man boobs are getting wind burnt. I take the first cutoff back to the truck. On the way back I start to build some body warmth. Ok, I'm not that cold but I need some eye protection. Pick the glasses up and take off again.

Keep the speed down a little and the wind didn't cut through my layers and the glasses made all the difference in seeing. I did my normal 15 mile loop out there. It was a nice change. All the normal muddy spots were frozen over and theres nothing like a layer of snow to make an old riding spot look new.

The feet were, once again, the deciding factor in ending the ride.

Once they start to go cold and numb the ride sucks.

You'll notice in my preparations I didn't include anything for the feet. Thats cause i don't have any. I'm gonna go out this week and atleat buy another pair of thick wool socks and see what happens. Last year I didn't have that option as the cheap shoes I had were really a size too small and layering socks wasn't an option.

I might be doing some night rides at Rose and Cedarville.
Just waiting to hear back from park management for the final O.K.

Seeyall