Colorado Kid

On the way to work today, I saw a most enchanting sight. Snow flakes danced and whirled in front of my lone headlight as I rode down the road. It didn't last very long, maybe a few minutes, but it almost seemed magical in that early morning darkness. Anyone else have similar experience that early in the morning?

rumrunn6

next time put your lite on strobe

AdvXtrm

Sounds amazing!

Chuck Naill

+1

AlmostTrick

I love riding in the light snow flurry action. Coworkers give you all the respect and admiration of riding in real snow, even though it's nothing. "You rode your bike today? It's snowing out!" Ah, Yeah.

Some of the most enchanting early morning weather I've experienced is fog. I travel through some wide open areas and sometimes ahead of me I get to see tables of fog 6-8 feet off the ground stretching across small or large sections. It truly is an amazing feeling seeing it from a distance and then riding through/under it!

Shimagnolo

You may not even need to do that. The first time I rode after dark with snow flying, I learned that Dinotte uses pulsing for the 25% and 50% light intensity settings. It is too fast for your eyes to notice a flicker, but slow enough to give a cool strobe effect to flying snow flakes.

BobbyG

It is magical!
I also like when the sun is just coming up, and a light frost is falling (from the trees?) like sparkling pixie dust.
Sometimes when riding home in the dark on a frosty night my headlight catches the
moisture cloud of my breath!

When I'm going through the hassle of figuring out how to dress for my winter ride (and then doing it), I think it would be nice to bike in a warmer winter climate. But then I think of the things you and I have seen and realize cold weather bike commuting has some special beauty all its own!

ptempel

This reminded me of a morning with a lot of fog going over the George Washington Bridge. There was enough to not be able to see the Hudson River. It felt like I was riding above the clouds. Only could see the peaks of some tall buildings on the Manhattan side besides the bridge. Was a really cool sight that I've only seen once so far.

rhm

Great photo!

It hasn't happened this year, but sometimes a little snow falls during the night and I ride through it on my way to the station. My tire picks it up and it shoots out the front of the fender, right under the light, and it looks like sparks.

AlmostTrick

^^^Just a few of the wonderful things that either cannot be experienced, or not experienced at anywhere near the same level while riding inside a car. Yay, bike commuting!

AdvXtrm

I used to say things like that when I was a motorcyclist. Of course the truth is, bicycling is immeasurably better in that regard.

wschruba

Probably my favorite commute ever (even though I was freezing due to not having the right clothes on) was when it started snowing about 30 minutes before I left work. The canal tow path was dusted, and the water was just cold enough that the snow settled on it, rather than melt. Since the section I rode on was essentially at the high point of the system, the water wasn't moving very quickly, and it blanketed the whole thing in white. In retrospect, I should've gotten on the road, as it would've been super easy to snag a wheel in a covered rut/hole, but...

RubeRad

I haven't had that experience, but it reminded me of a story I heard on NPR once. Apparently there's a rare condition where some people whose vision can't perceive depth, this one woman was undergoing some kind of experimental treatment (I think it was not medical, but more like physical therapy for eye muscles), and she walked outside into falling snow, and the first thing she ever saw in 3D in her life was falling snowflakes. And of course she was stunned into stillness, just stood there watching for a long time.

RubeRad

Another memory, I once visited my sister in Moscow (she was studying there and teaching english), it was christmas time, she took me to an outdoor christmas market, and at one point she turned around and her eyelashes were all frosted with snow. That was pretty stunning.

noglider 

It's nice to have something beautiful to smile about.

RubeRad

I know. I kind of wish I had the presence of mine to take a photo, but the memory is probably better

RidingMatthew

I am still dreaming and hoping for the right conditions so that I can experience snow on the bike ride to or from work. I have ridden in the snow many times after it has fallen but never in the snow as it is falling

vol

One winter morning it was snowing heavily, I was very excited to ride to work, but turned back home after 1 block because the visibility was very much impacted for both me--and more importantly, I believe, for drivers--by the very dense snow flakes falling.

Outnumbered

I have seen that a few times here in the NE. I love it seems like I could ride in it forever. My wife thinks I'm nuts but it's almost like an outer body experiance.

rumrunn6

got light snow tonight up here, someone should be riding right now

Archwhorides 

My Light and Motion headlamp suspends snowflakes while strobing- definitely worth the price of admission

canklecat

We get very little snow in this part of Texas, maybe a brief bit once or twice a winter -- and none last year -- so the first day we had an inch of snow I bundled up and took the mountain bike out for a skid on the nearby open fields.

Alas, the airborne flurries had stopped by the time I got outside. But it was fun to ride in a little snow for the first time since I was a kid 50 years ago. Not slippery at all, surprisingly. Dunno if it was because the snow was perfect powder, or the cyclocross tires were well matched to the snow. I tried locking up the brakes but everything still felt like a typical dry cold day.

Hoping it snows again this winter. Some years we'll get a bit as late as early April. We'll see.

Today the temp reached 80F, and was still in the low 60s by the time I got home at 9 pm from an evening ride.

79pmooney

For me. it was the absolute silence of riding to work at 6 am through 4-6" of virgin snow. Silent but for a low hiss from the snow. Almost my entire 12 miles into Boston was fresh.

I showed up at work ~10 minutes late. I was one of the few in before 11 o'clock. Now the ride home was a different story. The file tread cyclocross sew-ups, so sweet on the way in were so wrong!! going home through deeply rutted heavy snow. The ride home was near epic. And not one memory of anything beautiful.

Ben

RidingMatthew

might be riding in snow flurries Friday morning. it is on the weather app. not going to lie I am pretty excited about it!

chephy

Move to Canada and your dream will become reality!