Ride Report, 21 January.
Sunny, 53 degrees, winds NW 7-12mph. Distance approx 15 miles. Surface asphault/hard pack.
WHEEEEEEEEE! 
Man this thing is fun. Dunno if it's just that there's nothing to really worry about except your legs or what, but I find I'm a lot looser (both physically and mentally) on this than any of the geared bikes I've ridden. Probably geeking out here over something most of you already know.
Headed out today to check out the final segment of The Loop, which is our 131-mile MUP encircling the city; it often follows our "rivers," which of course are dry 95% of the time, and is not always paved on both sides. Anyway, the final segment was completed a couple of weeks ago and is near home so I thought I'd check it out. When I came to a low gate with a No Motorized Vehicles sign and dirt road beyond I looked at the beautifully paved
other side of the river and quietly cursed my luck.
Needless to say, this is a spot where I'd normally turn around and head back to a bridge so I could continue on the other side, happy in my asphault world. But I paused for a minute, looking back, looking ahead... and then I was over the gate and back on the bike. I ended up having a grand time out on the hard pack, bogging down only a couple of times where the sand got too deep. Eventually I found my way across the "river" (bike on shoulder, up the concrete bank and over the rail), back to the path, a tailwind, and home.
This really gets it back to basics, doesn't it? I was probably 12 the last time I hammered some crappy bmx through the improvised trails and tracks of my youth. This felt sort of like that. Sort of a
lot like that, actually. And I had a freaking
blast.
(I'd cross-post the pics in the Winter Riding thread, but that'd be just plain cruel.)