Archive for October 14th, 2009

Snow? Say it ain’t so!

October 14th, 2009

WTF SNOW!?!? Yep I said WTF SNOW?!?!?!??!?

I just watched the weather report and they talked about the possibility of snow (although not accumulating) by week’s end.

I have to confess that there was a time, albeit long ago, that I would have been really excited with such a report. But, I was a Ski Patroller back then. Happy to ski all season long for free and I got to cut lines. First tracks and always last off the mountain. It was all great except when there were drunk skiers attempting to get a patroller to “man up”; it was a snot freezing -10 below zero with 15 MPH winds; raining (sideways); lighting (which made for very interesting lift ride); high winds (again with the lift rides); first tracks after an ice storm; I could go on… But no matter what the conditions, we always skied…5-6-7 days a week, all season long.

What does this have to do with bicycling…the weather here in New England/Boston is ever changing and can be downright harsh, especially in the winter months. And as all Bostonians know, as much as there is no such thing as “Manhattan Chowda” (I heard it’s tomato soup with clams in it?), winter around here can be from any time in October and up to and including pretty much all of April.

So to say that you ride a bike here in Boston/Cambridge means you ride in all types of weather…no matter what. Ok, except maybe when there is plowable snow on the ground…and I strongly recommend staying off the roads for that first accumulating snow. You know the one where the driving public re-learns how to drive in snow and that learning curve resembles somehting like a bad EKG read out.

There are oh so many things to “get” about cycling here in the Boston/Cambridge area. To those of you that are new to the area, look, listen, read, ask, etc. You will be just fine. Like I heard so many times skiing. A bad day on skis (or snow board), beats a good day working or doing much else. And it follows, a bad day on a bicycle beats most any day in a car, bus…etc.

What better way to say BIKE ME to our wonderful winter weather (or with my best Boston accent, winta weatha) here and going a little more native… Chowda anyone?