Winter is (t)here

Vernon, NJ was even more rude than expected. We drove north Saturday morning with an early rainy start. The closer we got the colder it became, while still raining. We called about an hour ahead of our ETA to make sure they were still open. As it started to snow where we were at that point in time, we asked if it was precipitating. They said no. We hoped they knew what "precipitating" meant because there was slush falling from the sky.

 

I believe the snow was following us, because as we pulled into the parking lot, the slush turned to snow and we geared up as best we could. We were prepared for some "precipitation" but after about 2 hrs of riding, we couldn't see the trail anymore and had to finish early. The roads became treacherous at best and impassable at some points. Luckily, the impassible parts were headed in the other direction. Multi-car pile ups of people with 2 wheel drive cars getting stuck going up or coming down hills. It was a mess!

Thankfully, the Subaru Outback with all wheel drive was awesome! and got us safely to my old college friend Liz's place, just in time for the power to go out. All the leaves still on the trees made it impossible for the limbs to stay in place with all that snow. We cooked by gas stove, and ate by candle light and just hung out. It was a great time. All said and done, there was about a foot of snow where we stayed, and ~16 inches at the bike trails.

It did stop snowing and the sun came out on Sunday, so the roads were much better, but the biking was still canceled. Thinking we might be able to ride in northern VA by my friend Scott's house, we headed out in the morning. Unfortunately, all the trails were closed do to more precipitation, of the watery kind, that fell all day Saturday in NOVA too. We were just not meant to ride on Sunday.

It made for a good road trip and I got to use the all wheel drive, but it was a lot of driving for way too little riding. Next year, we won't wait until the last weekend of the season to go to Vernon, NJ.