December rides...

[azfiddle]

Salsa bike- i hope things are improving. Glad you are getting the okay for a short ride.

I've been doing a lot of "birding by bike" and it's kind of a compromise for both, but still a fun game to see how many species I can find that way.

[north woods gal]

Ditto on the birding. Heaven knows, we all need something to maintain our sanity, these days.

Bald Eagles are a fairly common resident bird in our area. In fact, we have a pair that nests on the next lake, over. See them almost, daily. Winter is our bird feeding season (a no no other times of the year because of bears) and activity at the feeders has been very good. Not a lot of variety, yet, but it is early in the season.

Still riding the fat bikes, daily, for at least a few miles, but it's now out on the snow packed pavement. Had a fresh 2" of snow, yesterday, and it was a delight to ride on with the fat bike. Snow is too deep back in the woods on the trails for the fatties, though, unless I figure out a way to do some grooming. Not that ambitious, though. Besides, the skiing on my trails has been terrific. Have some fun downhill sections and may add some more.

[salsabike]

Thanks, all.

North woods gal, I'm a bit fascinated with where you ride and all the different conditions under which you ride.

I did go out today for about 12 miles. It hurt my back some, but no more than not going. And I saw otters along the river trail. Some bald eagles, a Cooper's hawk, common goldeneyes, buffleheads, pied billed grebes, mallards. It made my day.

[azfiddle]

Yay Salsa Bike- sounds like a nice little ride.

I'm planning to go out later today after I meet with a friend to plan who is going to help us retile a room. Today is going to be nice but tomorrow a cold storm is headed our way with a good chance of rain, winds gusting into the 30's and colder temperatures. Sunday we'll be driving to Phoenix for my husband's family get together....

[north woods gal]

Thanks, Salsa. (Love the name, by the way. Have three Salsas). This country weeds folks out that don't like winter, pretty quick. What's left are people like us that enjoy winter. Winter sports are a big part of our economy, so cold and snow are considered a blessing. When we don't get cold and snow the way we should, people get grumpy the way people in other places get grumpy when they do get snow and cold.

Muir, so glad you got to do the fat bike thing. Way to go, girl! Looks like the perfect snow for fat bike fun.

Another inch snow coming, so that should make the ski trails nice and fast. Also good for the fatties out on the snowpack. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

[azfiddle]

I rode on the multi-use path along the Rillito River (it's generally dry- about 360 days of the year - and today was no exception). By the time I got rolling, well after noon, it in the low 60's and I was ready to ditch the windbreaker pretty quickly.

I stopped in a cemetery and a park along the way to do some birding- not much going on and I saw only about 25 species altogether on the whole ride. I made it across town. The mall with REI is adjacent to the path so I went in got a gift card for my sister-in-law's significant other. I wasn't too keen on riding in the mall parking lot today but it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be.

Tomorrow will be chilly in the morning and then windy/rainy in the afternoon, so probably no ride tomorrow.

[north woods gal]

Sheila, anytime you're in the area, we can find plenty of those off road miles for you. Just let me know.

Had an icy rain/snow mix right at the freezing point, all day, and my skis didn't have the right wax for it. They iced up, immediately. Too lazy to re-wax, so just did some indoor miles on the trainer. Figured it was safer than taking the fat bike out on the roads. Cars were slipping all over the place. Not good.

[Crankin]

We have the choice of riding or x country skiing on Christmas Day. It will be 37 here and about 29 at our favorite ski place, about an hour north.
We chose the skiing.