Distance: 42.4 miles. Elevation: 2939 ft
I left it a bit later in the day to go for a ride, hoping that some of the frost would have melted, but when I got downstairs all kitted-out, I looked outside to see that a puddle in the drive was still frozen solid. I ummed and ahhed for a while, assessing the risk. In the end I decided to give it a go, reasoning that I could always turn back if it looked too risky.
3°C. Beautiful sunny day. Light NW’ly. I wore knee-warmers under bib longs in an attempt to avert a recurrence of the knee problems I had a week ago. Yesterday my feet were a bit cold so today I wore shoe covers, but my feet ended up a bit too warm in Woolie Boolie socks!
Mainly the roads were dry and ice-free. There were frozen puddles at the roadside so I was quite cautious on the whole ride. My ear-worm for this ride was Ommadawn. I just couldn’t get it out of my head – it was with me for the whole three hours, only interspersed with my reciting the whole of a Robert Frost poem (Stopping by Woods…) several times – I even think Ommadawn was still playing as a background to that!
The knee-warmers seemed to do the trick. Despite a fair amount of climbing on this route, my knees felt fine during and after the ride.
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He’ll not see me stopping here
to watch his woods fill up with snow
My little horse must think it queer
to stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake,
the darkest evening of the year
He gives his harness bells a shake
to ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
of easy wind and downy flake
The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep
