TOTAL MILEAGE FOR 2016 - 3542.4
On this Christmas Eve, I "enjoyed" cold (39°), damp, gray conditions—for which the word "raw" would be a perfect description. Accordingly, I felt perfectly justified in limiting myself to a single round trip to Marsh Park, riding the 10 miles in 1:18.
A friend from our previous church (Bob Hufnagel) had read in my blog earlier in the week about the challenge I faced due to the blockage of the sidewalk at Rodeo Drive (from plowing), and my inability to clear it myself, so he kindly took it upon himself to go there and shovel it out so I could ride across. (When I drove by it this morning, I wondered who the Good Samaritan was!)
The ride was still not challenge-free. I had hoped that yesterday's mild weather would have cleared the sidewalks, and while they were improved somewhat, a bumpy, slippery streak of ice remains, running down the center of some stretches. Most place this proved no problem, but on one uphill stretch (even though they are quite mild "hills" by traditional cycling standards), my rear wheel was spinning so that I slowed down more and more, and eventually stopped making any forward progress whatsoever. I had to get up and walk it 40 or 50 feet.
Despite the challenges that remained, I am so grateful to Bob for making it possible for me to ride at all—to get down to that trail (the Lohr-Textile Greenway) which the township had cleared promptly after our big snowstorm of December 11.
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