In Which I Take a Frosty, Quiet, Snowy Ride

The first street I ride on--slick in paces, but OK for a careful rider on a mountain bike.

Boyson Road. Bike lane mostly not open--I rode through the neighborhood on the way home to avoid this.

Lowe Park Trail. Requires careful riding.

Today was a good day to own a mountain bike. It was cold in Iowa, in the 20s, and grey, but I own snow boots, long underwear and a mountain bike, and for an afternoon break, I used them together.

We were forecast to have snow yesterday, but were on the north end of the storm, and as luck would have it, the snow and ice stayed just to our south.

Which means it has been several days since snow fell here. But it was cloudy and has been cold. In winter, if you get sunny days in the 20s, that will warm pavement enough to help clear the slick stuff. We have not had that.

So, I expected some snow and ice but hoped it would be OK with the mountain bike. I saddled up the Fancy Best and planned to ride out to the Lowe Park Trail in Marion.

The Fancy Beast at Lowe Park.

Lowe Park reflecting ball.

The bike lane on Boyson Road was too narrow in places, and I decided I would not use that route on the way home. Other than that, the ride was as expected. While I had to be wary of icy patches, and the trail required slow, careful biking, the ride was nice. I was surprised to see a fair number of walkers and bikers on the trail. And just north of the trail, a whole city of geese was having a convention of some sort.

It was cold, but in my gear, I was OK. Still, I was glad to take a shorter ride.

It was a dreary, grey day, but the frost in the dry foliage and evergreen trees was pretty. Except for the noise of goose city near one end of the trail, it was quiet. While my favorite rides are on pleasant, warm sunny days, there is something to be said for the quiet and solitude of a January ride.

And here are three sets of images: Christmas lights, goose city and winter plants.

Christmas lights:

Lights in the neighborhood on the way home, above and below.

Goose city:

Winter plants: