Winter! Suprise!

Well it was an interesting arrival home after five days in Winnipeg. Not only was the tap water now drinkable, but it was more winter here than there. Approaching Vancouver in the plane and seeing the whole place covered in snow was a bit of a switch for sure. Factor in that Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa were all warm over the weekend and you've got yourself some screwy weather. I'll have to admit though, I was pretty choked when I realized that the storm was over because one of my favourite things to do during a snowstorm is go for a bike ride... you get that sense of the quiet. It's hard to describe. Every time I set off on a street that's covered with fresh snow my mind goes immediately back to winter 1999-2000 and I see myself rolling eastward on Grenadier St., hitting the radio button and saying, "Good morning mission control. Three-thirteen's on the way in." That's always followed by a wave of nostalgia mixed with thoughts of "holy shit, am I ever glad that I don't do that anymore". Of course, the highlight of the snowstorm bike ride in Vancouver is watching some serious road chaos unfold. I especially love the look of angry disbelief on the face of the guy in the 4x4 SUV with the summer tires who's trying to get out of his parking space by putting the hammer down for minutes at a time. That's right buddy, the TV ads lied to you.

Unfortunately, by the time I got in, the fresh snow had mostly been cleaned off of the main roads and had morphed into sheets of ice on the side roads, offering a very different cycling experience indeed. So I missed what may have been the year's best snowstorm bike ride opportunity. Lame. On the bright side, there's a chance that this snow might mean a few days without gas-powered leaf-blowers.

Photo courtesy of jordanfischer.