Now that was good winter riding!

Merry Christmas Eve to all! My wife and I are about to host a short holiday get-together but since our preparations were completed well ahead of schedule, I figured I could ramble on about my second  snow ride of the year.

After my less than satisfying ride on Friday I decided to try again on Saturday. The morning dawned cold and clear with temperatures hovering around 15 degrees. I arrived at Town Run Trail Park on the north side of Indianapolis a little past 8 am and found the trail perfectly frozen with parts covered in a light layer of snow and other sections completely clear. The single speed once again got the call for what was an absolutely fantastic ride. Something about riding in the early morning, combined with the cold and snow,  that just made for a great time. The first lap took me almost an hour to complete due to two downed trees that needed some hike a bike, and several stops to clear out downed limbs the result of windy weather we had on Thursday (although one the smaller of the two trees had actually been downed by a beaver).

A victim of recent winds.

The north loop was very fast while the southern loop had a great deal of ice covering, which required some caution, and several sections of clear frozen trail. The snow which was on the trail was fairly shallow, except on a short section of technical trail on the return leg. The snow had drifted in this section and was fairly deep with a few parts at axle level.

Heading into some deeper snow. The snow really helped smooth out the roots and rocks in this section.

I was the first bike on the trail but I did run into several hikers and trail runners out enjoying the morning. Overall, it was a great morning and I’m glad I hauled myself out of bed early enough to ride before the thaw. Central Indiana is forecasted to get nailed by a winter storm tomorrow evening into Wednesday. The amounts of snow vary based on which local news station you watch, but right now it looks like we could between 5 and 9 inches. This should make the commute on Wednesday interesting and may provide some other riding opportunities. We’ll see how this all plays out. Merry Christmas to all!