Thursday, December 03, 2009

Rough around the edges

Erratic freeze/thaw cycles, darkness, brutal winds and generally terrible conditions. For the past few days, Anchorage has been like a bad night at Tiger Woods’ house. If we hadn’t had such a good time with that hard-partying, slutty, hot cocktail waitress of a summer, it would be easy to get depressed at times like this.

At least we have a fair amount of snow on the ground now, and temps are dropping again. It’s funny how far-flung Facebook friends interpret my complaints about 38-degree weather as a sign that I think the weather’s too cold. I guess it’s hard to understand—from the beach or desert—why anyone would prefer to hold steady at 20 degrees. That happens to be the temperature at which I love to ride; it’s cold enough to keep snowy trails in good shape, but allows comfortable riding without too many layers of clothing.

The only good thing about warm wind in the middle of winter is that—if it doesn’t get too warm—the trails can still be good for biking, but bad enough to irritate all the Nordic skiers who seem to be humorless and unfriendly anyway. Considering how often they look down their noses at snow bikes and those of us who ride them, I can’t help but enjoy showing off the greater versatility of our mode of winter transportation.

5 comments:

Joboo said...

"The only good thing about warm wind in the middle of winter is that—if it doesn’t get too warm—the trails can still be good for biking, but bad enough to irritate all the Nordic skiers who seem to be humorless and unfriendly anyway. Considering how often they look down their noses at snow bikes and those of us who ride them, I can’t help but enjoy showing off the greater versatility of our mode of winter transportation."

Here.... Here!!!!
Very true.

yeah, what is it with the skiers anyway?

Peace,
Joboo

Damian Schroder said...

Car vs. Bike, Skiers vs. snowboarders...please god do not make the bike vs. nordic skiers! I do both, I enjoy both and damnit I certainly don't want feel when I see a biker or a skier (depending on my sport de jour) like there is some conflict between us. The last time I skied the tour trail I handed out bike stickers to folks on fat tire bikes and reminded them about Carl's movie. Common bond- we love the outdoors, period.

Tim said...

Hey, it ain't me, Frosty. Much of the Nordic crowd around town has treated cyclists like second-class citizens for years. The majority of xc skiers only glare at me when I offer a friendly "hello" on the multi-use trails.

Damian Schroder said...

It's all about perception. If I told you this guy is an a-hole before I introduced that person, you would key in on the first comment that fit that impression. There should be absolutely no tension. Fat tires actually leave less of an impact on the trail than skiers do. Also, you are most likely biking with those same "stuck up" folks in the summer. They just switch it up in the winter. 90 pecent chance that skier you pass is a cyclist as well. There's a lot of cross-over that's why it annoys me there is this perceived us-vs.-them attitude.

Tim said...

Yeah, I'm just "perceiving" years of open hostility directed at bikes from Nordic skiers. Whatever, dude.

A. I agree there shouldn't be tension between user groups. I also feel many other things in the world shouldn't exist, but they do.

B. You're making a mountain out of a molehill by seizing on a line I just tossed out there. Don't take it so seriously.