Winter Has Settled In

Live to Eat
Lots of physical activity, especially bike riding, keep me from turning into a blown up tic from eating too much.

When I ride the MUP (Multi Use Path) there is one spot that always gives me a ever changing view of itself.  There is so much activity on the salt marsh if we pay attention. As I rode by on my newly studded tires the ducks called to me.  They were really warning each other that I was around, but I take it as a compliment. 

The path was quite a mixed terrain ride today.  Icy tire tracks, deep-ish snow, blacktop and mush.  Today was my first day on studded tires, and frankly it kind of knocked the stuffing out of me a few times. I had to buy the tires separately which gives me 200+ studs on the front and 75 studs on the rear tire.  When I hit some of the deeper snow, (about three or four inches) the back tire would slip and slide making me tense up and struggle to keep upright. I was able to force myself to keep pedaling through the more natural thing of taking my foot off the pedal anticipating a fall. The sliding made it very difficult to hold any kind of a line in the tire tracks which seemed more like the side to side down hill skiing than bike riding.  

I arrived at the coffee shop with quite a perspiration going after the mile long ride.  I was contemplating riding the sometimes busy but dry Rt 6 home, but in the end, I stuck it out and rode back on the rutty, snowy bike path.

We are expecting a foot of snow during a 24 hour storm tomorrow and occasional snow squalls for the following three days.  I spoke to one of my neighbors about riding his quad on the path, asking him to make a few passes on the mile that I bike.  The tire tracks are the part of the path that clears quickly with only a day or two of sun shine and moderating temperatures.  If there is no melt, it’s much easier to ride the icy tracks than the deep snow.

All in all, it was a nice day to ride a bike on the South Coast of Massachusetts, while looking at Cape Cod across the bay.