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| One of my favorite views near Great Falls, MD |
Valentine's Day found my girlfriend and me out on the C&O Canal on our bikes, on a beautiful, sunny day, with temps in the 60s! It was gorgeous out there, and there were lots of birds and squirrels and even one perhaps over-eager turtle, basking on a log! It had all the makings of a perfect day...
... except for the thick, wheel-sucking mud!
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| That's my gf, making better headway on her "regular" bike. |
Yep, all that melted snow and ice resulted in some truly amazing mud. It was challenging enough for my girlfriend, on her conventional bike with 700c wheels, but for me on my Brompton Folding Bike with 16" wheels, it was truly a slog! I was amazed at how quickly I slowed to a crawl, and at times a complete stop, in the sticky bits. At times, my tires sank down to where the inner face of the rim was even with the surface of the mud to either side. I can't recall a ride in recent memory that was such hard work, and this on basically level ground.
Still, it was a beautiful day, and I'm still glad we got out on our bikes. I just wish we'd picked a paved surface to ride on.
3 comments:
You sure have some very pretty country to ride in! And much warmer temps than we have here right now (we had a rainy-snowy mix this morning with a little accumulation in the West Hills).
Maybe Punxy Phil only applies to the East coast...
Did you forget about 2003? The storm
was so bad that large trees were
uprooted. It was so muddy that we
walked most of one day.It took us
a week just to get to Hancock from
DC.
Oh yes, I remember that storm, and what a mess the towpath was. I just didn't really think about the snow melt making it so bad. Ah well.
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