Sunny Winter Days

After months of playfully fooling around, winter finally got down to business this week.

On Monday the temperature hovered either just above or just below zero all day. Tuesday morning I discovered that the weather station was reporting around -10, although it warmed up significantly throughout the day.

Now it is Wednesday and it appears our cold snap is over, at least for now.

Not only has it been cold the past few days, it has also been recklessly sunny. I treasure days like these-seeing the bright, winter sun make all the fields of snow glitter like diamonds, breathing in the sharp refreshing air, hearing the crunch of ice under my studded tires, smelling woodstoves merrily burning logs, sensing the stillness of a calm winter afternoon-it makes me feel so alive. These are the days that I long for in the sweltering heat of summer.

Now, I am not saying that cold weather comes without complications. It likes to play cruel tricks on unsuspecting, unprepared victims and last year I had a few difficulties in the bitter cold. But this year, I thought I had a better grasp of how to deal with subzero temperatures. And I did, but my bike didn’t.

After staying in a cold shed all day on Monday, my bicycle did not want to cooperate on the journey back home. When I paused, three miles from home to take a few pictures of the captivating snow, it completely rebelled against my wishes. The freehub would not engage; it spun wildly in both directions.

So I got to walk home.

I tried to be mad at myself for not getting the hub serviced pre-winter, but I find it really hard to stay upset when I am out in beautiful winter weather. Winter only comes once a year, while it is here I have to enjoy it. Yes, getting home took a lot longer than I expected but that just means I had an excuse for staying outside longer! Of course, once the bike came inside for a bit the freehub started working perfectly.

Tomorrow, my dad and I are going to take it all apart and see if we can get it to be less cankerous about working in subzero weather. If not, I have another hub on the way.