Today Seattle has a few inches of snow.  The last time that we had snow like this was Christmas 2009.  I woke up early and enjoyed a nice ride in the stuff with Rory.  I’m glad to get to ride it in once in a while, but I’m happy not to have to commute in it on a daily basis.

Secret project hint: It is a variation on Gifford, my adventure touring bike.  Here is a teaser (that is a 48mm wide tire):

Updated!

That photo of me flying through the air was the last time that our sled ever worked. We got home and Christine was bummed, so we made a new sled out of some old wooden XC skis, some plywood, and a bit of the old sled. It is a rocket!

I like biking in this stuff. I’m glad I don’t have the commute in it, but it’s fun having a couple of snowbike days. My studded tires should arrive tomorrow (if UPS is running), just in time for the ice. I also got to try out Lee’s Pugsley in the snow. The volume helps a lot, although he reports that it doesn’t do so well in ice.

]]> http://alexwetmore.org/archives/566/feed 3 http://alexwetmore.org/archives/524 http://alexwetmore.org/archives/524#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:58:00 +0000 Alex Wetmore /blogs/alex_wetmore/archive/2008/02/17/after-nahbs.aspx NAHBS wasn’t my only destination in Portland last weekend. On Saturday Christine drove down from Seattle and we met up with our friends Nate and Sam to head up for a weekend of snow on Mt Hood. We had a great mix of cross-country skiing (Trillium Lake), downhill skiing/snowboarding (Timberline), board games (Scrabble), and cooking (salmon one night, chili the next, waking up to omlettes and oatmeal).

Timberline was a great ski area for a barely sorta intermediate snowboarder such as myself. The green runs were too slow, but the blue ones were perfect and long. The ski was grey with a thin band of orange letting you see all the way down towards Bend.

The lodge is probably cooler than any other ski lodge in North America:

The Trillium Lake trail had the right mix of hilly and flat terrain and enough stuff to explore. I’m still figuring out this xc ski stuff and had to walk down and up the first hill, but Christine did it all the right way on her skis. The loop is around 4.5 miles. Portlanders are lucky to have so much great snow all about an hour away from the city by car.

Christine and I went for our second ski (sort of third for me) on Saturday. Visibility was low, but the snow was falling, the woods were quiet, and the crowds were light so it was a great day for us.

This is my first year of cross country skiing, but I’m really enjoying it so far. It reminds me of the types of mountain biking that I like. Thanks to Nate for letting me borrow his skis when we were out a few weeks ago. Here is a photo from that day:

Does anyone have a recommendation for their favorite place to go? So far we’ve gone to Gold Creek, Hyak, and Easton State Park, all near Snoqualmie Pass. Easton was our favorite.