The wheels began spinning as if on dope. With in no time, the dope seemed to kick in and the bike began to move sideways. The blurred white strip that was racing away underneath is supposed to be the shoulder of the road. The dope that the wheels were on was a substance called frozen H2O. Some call it snow too! The weather was beautiful. It didn’t snow much in the last two days. The weather.com update read a very encouraging 8 to 10 below Zero (Centigrade). The roads were dry enough for me to venture out with my Giant. If I needed any further excuse to take out my bike, it came along as a trip to Wal-Mart to return of a faulty item.

Four layers of dry fits in the lower half, four layers in the upper half, a muffler, a hat that doubling up as a ski mask, glove and winter boots was all part of the other attire. Attire advice courtesy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eC5toC0vms&feature=related

A water bottle and a rolled up snow boogie in my backpack and off I went. I struck to the bike path /walk ways as I was not confident to venture on to the roads. That meant that every inch became a territorial battle with the snow. Although the roads were more or less dry, the shoulders were anything but dry. The tires were all white in no time.

If you are looking for a good work out and uphill riding is just an appetizer for you, try adding snow to the menu. Lots of calories and you will love it!

I missed the lane that took me towards Wal-Mart. I am not sure if my mind cheated me by intentionally keeping me from taking the turn. I cannot blame it. It has been almost three months since it was this happy and it wanted to have more of it. It has been three months since it was on a bike. The trip to Wal-Mart meant a very short ride followed by wandering in the isles, which it didn’t quite enjoy. I complied and just kept pedaling.

The hilly path meant that for every uphill battle won brought an exhilaration of the downhill. But the downhill on the icy shoulders of the road was scary to say the least. The reduced traction in ice at the maddening pace of a downhill meant that the bike tires acted as if they were on dope. I came to know what ‘a chill down the spine’ is like. I had no choice but to venture on to the road and be watchful of the approaching vehicles.

If I had to stop at every beautiful spot on the route to take pictures, it would have taken me at least a month to cover the five miles I rode one way. Still, I managed to stop at a few spots to take pictures and turned back by 3pm. It was a short ride. Sort of baby steps towards cycling in subzero temperatures.

The short days of winter meant it gets dark by 4-5pm. There was still a lot of sliding and playing around in snow. So, I headed back to reach my next destination, Hubbard Park. The park is on a hill and riding up was a challenge. I lost the challenge right before the park gate at which point the back wheel spun in snow but I went no where. I walked the last few steps and locked the Giant to a tree.

There were lots of children and their parents having loads of fun sliding and snowboarding in the snow. I took out my snow boogie (more or less a thin plastic sheet to sit on and slide on the snow) from the back pack and fooled around sliding downhill in snow. It was loads of fun. I guess I’d prefer sliding downhill on a snow boogie to sliding down a snow hill on my bike. I went home after around an hour of sliding and fooling around in snow.

It was a thrill biking around in the chill.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/hivenkat.d/ABikeRideInSnowAndHubbardParkTrip#