Introducing SNOW-RIDA (Who Almost Died Prematurely)

Continuing in the long tradition of sweet white rappers (yes, i'm talking about Vanilla Ice, Lil Wyte, and the immensely talented Eminem), I introduce my rap alter ego SNOW-RIDA (snow-rye-duh).  



Why SNOW-RIDA? Well, the DC area got about 6 inches of snow last night and this morning. When I got to work and found a text message waiting from Kevin, I knew we were going riding. Hence SNOW-RIDA. I took off at 2:30 pm, headed home, then over to Fairland. I was a little late for our 4 o'clock meeting because the lock on my bike rack was frozen (still is).

This was my first snow ride, and it started out SHAKY. I fell in the parking lot within 5 seconds of getting on my MTB! We did the small loop first then headed back toward the cars because Kevin forgot his camera (all pictures are courtesy of Kevin). I fell at least twice on the inner loop and had to put my foot down about a dozen times. Roots with snow on them are not cool (indeed they are cool with snow on top of them, but i'm not picking up what they're throwing down). Instead of enjoying the ride, I was fearing it.

I'm probably about to fall

I was about ready to call it quits back at the car, but I had to get back on the horse one more time. Kevin suggested that I let most of the air out of my tires, which made all the difference in the world. Off we went yet again. We ended up riding almost the whole trail. We bailed on the last half mile section because it was getting dark.

The trees were our best friends when trying to clip in

The most difficult portion of the ride was clipping into my pedals. I had to get off my MTB many times due to loss of balance and/or traction. I actually think the constant balance issues will help me improve my non-snow balance later on. Also, I figured out that when losing traction, it's best to shift into the lowest gear, put my weight on the back of the saddle, pedal as slow as possible. This allowed my tires to grip.

Log domination

In the end, I enjoyed riding in the snow. I love being in the woods where there's a couple inches of snow on the ground whether I'm biking, hiking, or skiing. The actual riding isn't my favorite (I prefer smooth, hard-packed single track), but it was a nice change of pace (once I got the air out of my tires) and the scenery was awesome. I'd try it again.

SNOW-RIDA drops snow tracks

SNOW-RIDA out!