We're just about two thirds through winter, and it has definitely arrived. The last couple years have had little to no true winter in my area, and I found I didn't mind. This year too has been quite mild, but in the last week it has truly felt like winter with some snow followed by freezing rain, then a little more snow. The roads and rail trails have not yet been fully cleared, and that can make getting along with motorists as one gets along on a bike more challenging. Most people in their warm, dry vehicles are pretty understanding that the constricted road width means a bicycle and rider may present more of an obstruction than usual, but of course, most is not all, so there is that roughly 15% who make their outsized presence extremely known.
My first time living in the Five College area I was a student and UMass, and for my last three semesters I was renting a room in a house about three miles from campus, my commute starting with a chilly downhill in both directions! My commuter was a road bike, and for a week one winter, snow was followed by rain which was followed by freezing temperatures, so the resulting inch of hard ice on the roads, except for four tire track grooves, meant I was riding exactly where motorists wanted to place their passenger side tires, but happily, in that week, only one old coot in a tattered pickup honked at me. It felt like people were giving me credit rather than angst for being out there.
East of where DCR clears the rail trail
Clearing of the roads this time has been more effective than that, but of course, more is not completely. Ice patches snake in and out from the roads edge in places, so my only rides since that last precipitation have been a trip to Amherst that had me less than 100% pleased with my safety on that roads and a three mile jaunt down my street this morning to stash a bike in the woods then hustle on foot to just barely flag down the bus as I ran to the stop. The snow slowed my usual commute to the the bus stop, but perfect timing made for my fastest bus trip to Northampton at only twenty-five minutes slower that a spritely scamper on a road bike, and close to what I'd typically allow for a utilitarian shuttle on the less direct rail trail route. Yay!
So yes, I'm managing okay with the return of more noticeable winter, but managing okay is not necessarily enjoying. Granted, a still far from fully recovered left arm means I am not taking advantage for the snow by cross country skiing, but with the crusty coating of ice, I am not missing particularly pleasant conditions. I am looking forward to more congenial road conditions for a bike, but getting to that will include a chunk or two more corrosive conditioner to help melt the ice. So, I found myself wondering what I think about living in a place with winter.
Then yesterday, I headed out on snowshoes to hike through the woods up to the New England Trail where I expected more foot traffic might might allow me shed the big waddle shoes in favor of spikey traction assist. As I neared the official trail by bushwhacking through the woods, excitement, I could see a runner scampering. I thought I was too late to give greeting, but yay, she stopped after crossing the road fifty years from where I joined the trail. I'm sort of a runner now, so I like saying hi to runners, especially ones out enjoying the trails. They're good people, and this particular one, after I'd given my greeting and continued up the trail, gave me a smile as she began running again and repassed me with, "This is going to be fun!"
She was right. It was fun. Even better, we both immediately ducked off the New England Trail onto the nearby snowmobile trail which was well packed but ice free for the width of a sled. Off went the snowshoes and on went the smile, and while I still wonder a little about my place in this winterland, the rest of this post is dedicated to good moments, like the motorist who slowed to a near stop in the parking lot last week to make sure his car didn't splash me through the puddle. I repeat, Thank you!
Seeing another bike locked in the snow outside my (awesome) doctor's office make me smile.
Pinecone tracks are cool!
Belated happy Valentine's day
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