It was a cold and overcast morning as our merry band of Man set out for a circular loop of Aberdeen, the recent snow was still on the ground making for an interesting few hours riding.
Keeping it retro I took the Proflex 750 (now known as the "Sno-Flex"
) and set off across town to pick up a trail by the river Don.The ground was frozen with an inch or two of snow, making for some decent speed and some entertaining rear wheel drifts in the corners as I neared the beach the grey clouds decided to dump another helping of snow on the already frozen trails.
The section along the promenade was exposed and I battled into a headwind the whole way, with the snow in my face I was preparing myself for a pretty grim couple of hours cycling ahead of me. But by the time I reached the quaint old fisherman's village of "Foot Dee" the snow had changed to big slow falling flakes, making for a winter wonderland scene.
A quick road ride around the harbour, and an even quicker ride through Torry (if you stop for any reason you'll find your wheels gone ) brought me to Nigg bay where there's a new harbour under construction, then up Tullos Hill which gives views out over the city, by which time the skies had cleared and it had turned into a gloriously crisp sunny day the perfect spot for a brew
Riding along the trails at the top of the hill was hard work as the snow was a bit deeper, but soon enough I was riding through Kincorth Nature Reserve, and from there it was a quick freewheel alongside the A90 down to the river Dee.
The trail alongside the river Dee was also pretty quick and slippery, but good fun, and I found myself thinking back to the talk I went to by Hans Rey last week where he mentioned "accepting risk", as I slid around mere feet from the icy pool of death to my left a bit further upriver the Dee was frozen over, big icebergs sticking out of it like some glacier :shock: unfortunately my phone battery had died by this point, typical.
All in all it was a great ride, and no bike cleaning needed! :mrgreen:
I can't blame anyone for not making the drive up here, road conditions werent the best. So enjoy the words and photos. Might do a re-run of this route in the warmer, drier , summer months...
Keeping it retro I took the Proflex 750 (now known as the "Sno-Flex"
) and set off across town to pick up a trail by the river Don.The ground was frozen with an inch or two of snow, making for some decent speed and some entertaining rear wheel drifts in the corners as I neared the beach the grey clouds decided to dump another helping of snow on the already frozen trails.The section along the promenade was exposed and I battled into a headwind the whole way, with the snow in my face I was preparing myself for a pretty grim couple of hours cycling ahead of me. But by the time I reached the quaint old fisherman's village of "Foot Dee" the snow had changed to big slow falling flakes, making for a winter wonderland scene.
A quick road ride around the harbour, and an even quicker ride through Torry (if you stop for any reason you'll find your wheels gone
) brought me to Nigg bay where there's a new harbour under construction, then up Tullos Hill which gives views out over the city, by which time the skies had cleared and it had turned into a gloriously crisp sunny day the perfect spot for a brew Riding along the trails at the top of the hill was hard work as the snow was a bit deeper, but soon enough I was riding through Kincorth Nature Reserve, and from there it was a quick freewheel alongside the A90 down to the river Dee.
The trail alongside the river Dee was also pretty quick and slippery, but good fun, and I found myself thinking back to the talk I went to by Hans Rey last week where he mentioned "accepting risk", as I slid around mere feet from the icy pool of death to my left
a bit further upriver the Dee was frozen over, big icebergs sticking out of it like some glacier :shock: unfortunately my phone battery had died by this point, typical.All in all it was a great ride, and no bike cleaning needed! :mrgreen:
I can't blame anyone for not making the drive up here, road conditions werent the best. So enjoy the words and photos. Might do a re-run of this route in the warmer, drier , summer months...
