Post by Mike S on Dec 23, 2007 12:31:25 GMT -8
The 2007 Winter Solstice Ride is in the books. I think this might truly become a tradition. Exactly 6 months ago when we were riding in the daylight at 9 PM, the thought of the coming of winter was dreadful. But in an almost spiritual way, having a winter solstice ride makes the winter seem tolerable, at least for a few more months.
The weather was just about perfect. An afternoon snow shower left about 3 inches on the ground around the city. The snow was light and easy to ride through. The backstreet's and parking lots were perfect for power slides. Some of the streets were a bit icy, but as always, with a bit of finesse, very ridable!
If you’re prone to motion sickness you may want to stop right here. These pictures were taken on the fly, in the dark!
Sarah, Janusz, and I started from the north side, just as the snow was beginning to accumulate on the streets. After negotiating the cars on Northwest Blvd, we pretty much had the roads to ourselves. Here’s Sarah on Broadway:
We picked up Alan on Monroe and proceeded to the designated meeting spot, The Elk:
From the Elk we went to the Swamp; a cycling friendly little dive tucked away on the west side of downtown. From the Swamp we took a tour of the downtown lights and festivities. Downtown looked pretty lively for a snowy night:
Here we are in River Front Park: Sarah and Pat disguised their identities by shinning their HID’s directly into the camera. Good thinking.
Riverfront Park. It looks icy and it was. Everybody rode with finesse and nobody crashed:
Guess which pub this was:
Next on the tour was O'Dougherty's. We ran into some old friends of SRV, Eric Erkel and Francis. They’re in town for the holidays.
From downtown we headed up the South Hill to Manito Park. Who knew you could have bonfire in the middle of the night on the south hill?
Snow, bikes, and fire on the Solstice:
The weather was just about perfect. An afternoon snow shower left about 3 inches on the ground around the city. The snow was light and easy to ride through. The backstreet's and parking lots were perfect for power slides. Some of the streets were a bit icy, but as always, with a bit of finesse, very ridable!
If you’re prone to motion sickness you may want to stop right here. These pictures were taken on the fly, in the dark!
Sarah, Janusz, and I started from the north side, just as the snow was beginning to accumulate on the streets. After negotiating the cars on Northwest Blvd, we pretty much had the roads to ourselves. Here’s Sarah on Broadway:
We picked up Alan on Monroe and proceeded to the designated meeting spot, The Elk:
From the Elk we went to the Swamp; a cycling friendly little dive tucked away on the west side of downtown. From the Swamp we took a tour of the downtown lights and festivities. Downtown looked pretty lively for a snowy night:
Here we are in River Front Park: Sarah and Pat disguised their identities by shinning their HID’s directly into the camera. Good thinking.
Riverfront Park. It looks icy and it was. Everybody rode with finesse and nobody crashed:
Guess which pub this was:
Next on the tour was O'Dougherty's. We ran into some old friends of SRV, Eric Erkel and Francis. They’re in town for the holidays.
From downtown we headed up the South Hill to Manito Park. Who knew you could have bonfire in the middle of the night on the south hill?
Snow, bikes, and fire on the Solstice:
