Monday, March 05, 2007

All ice, all the time

For a few days each year,
the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge
becomes a great place to ride.
When the wind does it's magic
and sweeps the coastal flats clean,
it's like our own strange brand of slickrock.
But not that sandpaper-like stuff they have in Moab
that lets even schmoes like me climb absurdly steep trails.
This stuff is actually slick. Right now, it's in the best shape I've ever seen.
Miles of ice. Smooth ice, crunchy ice, muddy ice,
and all of it perfect for studded tires. My friend Maura and I
spent several hours out there on Sunday.
The crunch of our studs was accompanied
by one of the best sounds in the bike world:
spontaneous I-can't-help-myself laughter.

Every once in awhile, Maura cracked up
and said, "This is so fun!"

Now that's a good ride.

4 comments:

shawnkielty said...

That looks very fun.

Frostbike said...

Imagine. Just yesterday I was bitching about having to ride less than a mile on glare ice, and here you are doing it intentionally.

I'm not worthy.

Maura said...

It was a GREAT ride! The sun was shining and the mountains were beautiful. It's hard to believe we had such an awesome venue to ourselves. Thanks for sharing the fun.
Maura

Jeff Moser said...

Does your wife know you stole her oven mitts?