Your low side spill sounds much like my own 15 years ago. It’s a sudden event and you just feel helpless to do anything. At least that was my experience. I still roll in snow from time to time but I am much savvier than I was then. Experience breeds skill if you’re paying attention.

We get the same accidental fortress effect here. After my heart attack, my cardiologist insisted I get a snowblower. It’s an amazing little machine. Even though it’s a single-stage unit, it chews right through whatever the plow can pile up. The roads are clear now but there is plenty of snow around. Planned to ride today but chores got in the way. It will be getting a lot colder now so I’ll play it by ear.

Dogs. You have to love them. Cats too. I’ve had plenty of both.

Thanks for the kind words about the photos. I’ve started building out a photo section in the blog. Tedious work. Much more to do. A work in progress.

Oh, and dogs: Le Wife’s younger son brought his dog, Pepper, with him when he moved in last August, and We’ve all taken turns letting her out into the backyard to do her thing: there’s still a lot of snow out there, and even though she’s not exactly a snow-loving pup like yours seem to be, she eventually gets into sprinting back-and-forth with gusto. (She’s an Aussie cattle-dog mix.) I’m more a cat guy than dog-guy, but she’s still a sweetie most of the time. (Her encounters with Tapper, the Wonder Cat, are reminiscent of certain Tom & Jerry cartoons.)

Once again, great photos, including both doggos!

It’s strange that I continue to produce black and white photographs. For a long time, I avoided color photography because of the difficulty of producing good prints that I could control. For work and publication, I did, but for personal work, I remained in black and white. Even now with digital cameras and an excellent photo printer capable of making fine color prints, I continue to work in black and white for everything but my riding photos. I’m not sure why exactly other than as you’ve said, black and white does evoke a response that is different than color. I’m not sure what it is either.

I hope you have more luck than I’ve had to find an activity that equals riding. Walking comes close but I never feel the soaring of my spirit while walking. I really haven’t been looking too hard though…

At this point in winter, I will welcome any kind of bubble of quasi-warmth. Today the temperature will hit 38F under sunny skies so I plan to take the Vespa out to drain some of the pent-up mental chaos that only a ride seems to soften. The roads will be clear though I expect to see some water running in places. I’ll just have to get the clean scooter splashed up again with road filth.

Bicycles. We have two mountain bikes here — a Specialized for Kim and a Schwinn for me. Neither has seen use in a long, long time. I fear my arthritis makes riding a painful experience for my joints with the hard, unregulated bumps on the road. I’ll try again when the weather warms but I think walking is my exercise future for the most part.t

Brompton bikes look cool but I wonder how they’ll be in use with those small wheels? I suppose riding in town will be great where you won’t expect to achieve continual higher speeds. As far as the dogs not being happy with a lack of snow, they would be thrilled to go for a walk in the city!

I hate that second hand sweep…

Same here — twice using the snowblower and once today with a shovel. My pile is under 3 feet. I slept well last night though!

You’re exactly right about the similarity of the snowblower and riding. I was enjoying the engine noise and progress. I have a single stage TORO so it is pretty simple but there is an ebb and flow to the engine noise that is similar to being on the road.

I appreciate your thoughts on when choosing to ride might not be the best option. With limited success, I’ve been searching for that magic elixir of activities that seems to be a salve to my soul like riding is. I can thank the pandemic for stretching me in this pursuit!

A perfectly fair question is whether I intend to ride today.

No.

I did ride the day before yesterday. I checked the battery and it was fine (thank heavens). I fired up the mighty Vespa and rode slowly from P1, to P3 to inspect our two bicycles that I have zero desire to ride. They are filthy dusty, have flat tires, and need some TLC that I have no desire to give them.

That’s what happens when I spend too much time each and every day counting down the days to when our brand spanking new Brompton bicycles will be in our hot little hands. Today, it’s looking to be day 26.

The Bromptons will live in the front hall closet, not in the garage where anything that is untouched for more than a few years begins to disappear under a fine layer of dust imported and very efficiently distributed by the hundreds of cars. The Vespa sits under its branded cover where it is still nice and shiny.

It’s a shame really. That I am neglecting my now-vintage Norco ultra light road bike, and the Specialized gravel bike I inherited from my dad. How he must be shaking his head. So sad. That’s life.

Now where the heck are our Bromptons? Oh right. sitting in parts bins at the factory in London, or maybe in the paint shop, waiting to be assembled in the next week or so.

If I had Junior or Lily here, they wouldn’t be impressed due to the lack of snow.

We’ll go for a walk around lunch time.

Can’t you just feel the second hand diligently sweeping across my watch face?

There’s no doubt that the preparation for riding in cold weather is daunting. And if the siren song of warmth and banana pancakes is near, how can any rider be expected to venture into the cold on a motorcycle?

I remember backpacking in winter and waking with fresh snow on the ground, boots frozen, and all I could think of is a faint hope that there remained enough embers from the previous night’s fire that I would quickly be facing flames and heat. Riding is far easier than that but I have found it increasingly difficult to get up and out the door in the cold when the roads are clear.

So like you, I’ll suffer through the moment and have faith that I’ll ride again! It will get warm again. They say patience is a virtue right??

Best to you and Shirley.