the at last some sunshine ride

the at last some sunshine ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

after over a week of heavy snow, threatened heavy snow, ice, more ice, then ice on top the cold weather finally broke and last night iot actually rained for a short time. all is good you may think?, but actually last weeks hard packed snow was much easier to ride on than this weeks thin crust of ice with very soft snow/slush underneath it, very very hard going even on flat or downhill gradients. Heading over the Beacon i braved the steps and the frozen bridleway and as the views opened up over Rubery one bonus emerged from the fact that there was snow. It was easy to see where people had walked and through a gateless gateway i spotted footprints heading down along the edge of a field. Only one way to find out where it went and i followed the tracks down quite a steep downhill which then entered a copse of young trees and the trail flicked in and out of them down hill. i was just about able to hold a line without sliding out on the ice and just as i was getting more confident the trees ran out and after a short bit of open field i was back on the main road, not far from where i would have been if i'd kept going on my original intended route. The path up the Waseley Hills was impassable, the tyres just dug into the slush about 6 inches deep and then just spun out. I had to resort to the road to get to the cafe for a hot drink. Coming back by the Hospital drive i had my only real "moment" as the tarmac here had edge to edge ice covered in a film of melt water, it was super slick and the bike was hard to keep upright. the snow has left the roads in terrible condition, massive pot holes have formed and gravel is strewn all over them. Still, it'll improve handling skills no end.
ride 7
17 miles
total 127