Anderson in the Snow

Since the snow fell last week, I'd been thinking about getting out for a ride in it. The sun had hardly shown its face for days and it had been even longer since the temperature rose above freezing, so the ground under the snow was frozen solid.

I pulled off the feathery light but not-so-knobby rubber Santa Cruz stocked on my Nickel, and replaced it with a set of nearly new IRC Trail Bears I had on the rack in the basement. The Bears are 2.25 inches wide with a tread suitably aggressive for soft stuff. From the cabinet in the garage I pulled out my Moose Mitts and my neoprene booties, popped the Nickel onto the van, dumped Quinn at a friend's house, and headed for the trail.

Some of Michigan's bike trails become ski trails in the winter and are closed to bikes for the duration of the season. Others, such as those at Anderson, were built by cyclists for use by cyclists and stay open year round.

At the trail head for the green loop at Anderson Park, I could see that not a single bike had been on the trail since the snow fell a week ago. There were many deer prints and a few sets of human footprints, but no tire tracks. I wasn't even sure this would work. It might be too slick, my tires might just spin, or it might be too hard to keep the bike on the trail, I might slide off and just fall over. I expected the biggest challenge to be simply finding the trail on the snowy forest floor. Anderson Park has no markings on the trees to help the winter user find the way.



Despite my concerns, the ride turned out to be very nice. The snow was pleasantly fluffy and a few inches deep, so it was easy enough to ride in and didn't even stick to my bike. I had some trouble finding the trail in several places, but eventually worked it out, usually by following a gentle hint of contour in the snow, but sometimes only by following the dear tracks, and I managed to ride the entire loop. In one section, after a wrong turn and a little meandering, I found myself back on the trail but riding the wrong direction. One segment of trail was buried under a very large newly fallen tree, which required a bit of bush-wacking to circumnavigate.



It took nearly an hour for me to get around the whole loop, which is about three times as long as usual, but route finding and branch removal made it slow. Anyone who rides it in the days that follow will be able to use my tracks and ride it a bit faster, as long as they watch out for those few places where I took a wrong turn.

Even at 25 degrees, my Moose Mitts kept my hands toasty warm (almost too warm) with a light pair of gloves underneath, and my neoprene booties kept my feet comfortable. On my legs I wore a pair of tights with my bike shorts, and on top a lightweight long-sleeved wool under-layer, a thin long-sleeved running top, and my Gore cycling jacket. With an old wool cap under my helmet I was quite comfortable. When I finished my bike was so clean it hardly looked like I'd been riding.

I only wished I'd had more time.