Crazy winter weather...

So in December, East TN was hit with a deluge of rain and actually carried over into the first week or so of the New Year. Filling the gauges to not only end '08 on a "+" rain total but put us 3" or so ahead for this year. All while being absolutely cold as, well you know! Then earlier this week it was down in the single digits for lows and highs not getting above the mid-20's. We even saw some of the white stuff; I think they call it SNOW! No major accumulation but it did cover the ground and get this...CLOSED SCHOOLS!

This week the weather God's must have decided to smile on me. I just happened to trade my normal Monday off to help out G$. He and the fam went on a snowboarding weekend. This meant Thursday was my day for a little action. I began checking the future-cast early last weekend and noticed the possible high was going to reach 50! I formulated a plan: a little cabin fever mountain bike ride. As the days counted down the forecast was still looking good for my evil scheme of a late January ride on the SS. I put the word out for a Thursday hookie ride. I had one taker, Alan Carnell. We decided a little Raccoon Mountain action was needed to cure our cabin fever.

I awoke to a beautiful sunny sky w/ a few white clouds. I knew this would be a GREAT day! I wasn't too concerned w/ trail conditions as the SORBA-Chatt crew has done a tremendous job building the trails down there. We began our ride with a slight chill and light breeze. However, we knew being in the woods and the sun would warm us up quick on the SS. The BIG WHEELS were rollin' strong on the dry, hardpack. The turns got interesting in spots w/ some grease here and there which made for perfect 2 wheel drifts. We did find some soft and slick spots on a few of the climbs, snow in a couple areas, and some crunchies scattered along the trail. All in all this was the PERFECT late January day for a mountain bike ride!