Defeated

I set out on my usual Sunday morning bike ride and made it all of about four blocks before turning around and (mostly) walking the bike back.

Snow’s just too deep.

I can get some traction riding in paths made by automobile tires, but as soon as I inevitably skid off into the deep stuff, it’s no go.

We’ve got about eight to ten inches of snow on the ground (and in the trees, on top of houses, and covering cars, too, for that matter) atop a nice layer of ice so, for the first time this winter, I’m throwing in the towel for cycling—at least until this stuff softens up and turns to slush.

Today would be the day to have a Pugsley; I think that if you could float over the top of the crusty drifts you might be able to keep going. And maybe studded tires would help, although I think the studs wouldn’t really have anything to bite into, so maybe not.

It gives me a little bit of cabin fever to be bikeless; I was sort of thinking about riding down to the local Steelers bar and catching today’s game; it’s usually a ten-minute ride; I’m guessing it’s an hour at least, to walk.

Thank the technology gods for streaming internet radio broadcasts, at least.

I’m hoping the Black n’ Gold pull it out today against Tennessee to earn AFC bragging rights and (probably) home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but if there’s any correlation between my efforts and theirs (not causation; I’m not that crazy), then it’s likely they’ll come home with their tails between their legs, too.

Truth be told, I don’t really feel bad about my defeat at the hands of nature today; it’s refreshing, in a way, to discover what the limit of my two-wheel transportation options are; so what if I can’t ride a regular bike in this stuff; maybe the tallbike; at least falling wouldn’t hurt.