advantage of a snow day.
(Photo courtesy Phillip Ross)
Snow! It’s everywhere and it keeps coming down! I know many folks in other parts of the country more accustomed to snow are laughing at us; but here in Portland the amount of accumulation we’re seeing is pretty rare. It’s stayed cold and dry enough for several days that the entire city is covered in several inches.
To us, this is sort of a big deal.
Parks and streets have been transformed into winter wonderland scenes and with the weekend upon us, and many events cancelled (including The Worst Day of the Year Ride, see below), people are getting as much snow-play in as they can. And for many of you, that means biking. Very fun biking.
With most people opting to not drive anywhere, the streets are nearly carfree. And there are so many people out playing on them that it’s like a citywide Sunday Parkways (h/t to Russ Roca at PathLessPedaled for that idea).
Here’s my little boy owning the road on his balance bike out in front of our house in north Portland:
I spent the morning tearing around the block while pulling kids on a sled behind my mountain bike. And so did many others from what I’ve seen around the neighborhood and via our social media streams.
Off-road bikes and fat bikes seem to be the tool of choice for these conditions. I’ve heard Mt. Tabor is full of mountain bikes and I know of several groups that have jumped on fat bikes and headed into Forest Park. Check out the shot below from Gabriel Amadeus:
Before signing off, we’d just like to say that pretty much everything in our Weekend Event Guide has been cancelled or rescheduled. Just a few minutes ago, the organizers behind The Worst Day of the Year Ride made the tough decision to cancel the entire event (not just the long “challenge ride” as was announced Friday).
With more snow and probably freezing rain on the way, we’re far from seeing the end of these storms.
What have you been up to? Please share your experiences and any important updates on conditions or event cancellations below.