It's the crap, crappiest season of all!

Happy Christmas jingles notwithstanding, I've really had a hard time with winter this year. There has been snow on the ground pretty much non-stop for the past 6 weeks, and it's been pretty cold too (although not quite as cold as it was last year). Anyway, here is a little update regarding my thoughts on the season...

First, as a disclaimer, I HATE WINTER. Pretty much everything that I have to say in this post is tainted by that fact.

Second, I am well aware that people in other parts of the country have it much worse than me (even my friends in the Boone area). While I feel bad for them, they really don't have much relevance to my situation. It's their own faults for living there. I just don't expect Brevard to be one of those places.

Sliding around on snow isn't normal, but on meth (winter) it is.

Anyway, like I said, there has been snow on the ground for the past 6 weeks. There has been a little bit of mountain biking during that time, but not at all for the past 2.5 weeks. For the first week the most recent snow was on the ground, Julia and I tried our hands (or leg/feet areas) at XC skiing. Fun stuff. Kinda threw me off coming off of DH skis, since turning and stopping is pretty much impossible on them. Still, it's a good workout.

Julia demonstrating proper technique

Today, I had the idea to go out early in the AM to ride my MTB before the ground thawed and got all slickery. Good plan. Except for this stuff...

The slippery, icy result of hundreds of hikers making tracks

It was really slow going on North Slope, which I suppose is my own fault for riding a trail that I knew would be bad. Thrift and Sycamore were both totally ridable, and despite a bit of sleet starting to come down, remained grippy.

Finally, I want to review a couple of products. First, my new gloves. Julia got these for me for my birthday, and I have to say, they are AWESOME. If anyone has hands that get cold, these are worth the money, I'm sure. Way warmer than the Specialized gloves, the only fault I have found with them is that they are too warm for most riding (25 degrees this morning, and my hands were still sweating). Good stuff.

Descente something-or-other gloves

And finally, my bike. I've never owned a stumpy before, and I have to say, it's baller. I'm gonna do a bit of a more detailed review sometime in the future, but for now, suffice it to say, I've got it dialed, and it just keeps asking for more speed. Every time I got off the snow today, I got to remember how much fun Pisgah is. I'm looking forward to a riding filled spring and summer...

Also, I had a video for you of Michael and I building a bridge, but I can't seem to get it off of my Lucifer-possessed phone (Droid Incredible stupidphone). I'm gonna keep working it, cause it was an epic day. It's not often that you get to cut down trees in the rain when it's below freezing to build a bridge with your bare hands. Man things.