The crunch of the snow beneath the four inch wide rubber of my Motobecane FB4 Pro brought an instant smile to my face as I climbed into the saddle and clamored across my front yard. The snow had receded over the past few sunny days, but especially on the rainy day that ushered in the end of the shortest month of the year. But the sun... the sun does something special to 6+ inches of snow. It creates an icy crust over the surface that can easily support my fat bike. Mostly.

My goal, as I set out around noon today, was to take a lap at Jermain Park and get an hour in the saddle. I nearly accomplished both. I got the hour in the saddle. What I was unable to do was the lap at Jermain Park. I was worried from the time I rolled into the parking lot at the trail head. I could tell, immediately, that there was nobody who had ridden the trail since that last snowfall. There were some footprints leading from the parking lot into the woods, but no tire tracks.

I hopped the mound of snow that lines the border of the parking lot, and made my way to the pseudo-bridge that represents the trail head. When I got there, I knew I was in for a bumpy ride. The footprints were deeper and even more crusted over than the ones leading from the parking lot. People take the path of least resistance, and when walking in snow, that means stepping in the footprints of those who trekked the trail before you. Footprints in the snow are to mountain bike trails as cobblestones are to a cobblestone road laid by a person with no depth perception and no sense of touch. Luckily, they walked around the existing trail for the first part. Then, when the trail cuts back in on itself, they had followed the creek. Since plowing through untested snow through a path that I may or may not remember seemed more difficult than following the footprints, I continued along the creek. I'm glad I did.

When I got nearer the bridge, the footprints scattered and I kept breaking through the snow-crust and getting stuck. I ended up walking my bike over to the jump-park. Even there, I was forced to walk the bike where the snow had drifted up, between the jumps. Frustrated by the conditions, I decided to make my way over to Ottawa Park where I might be able to find some packed snow on the hills.

That's exactly what I found.

After passing the police sub-station, I hooked a left into the park and made my way down one of the sledding hills. It was mostly ice and I was a tad-bit nervous about the speed that I achieved. At the bottom, I was in the parking lot of the golf course. In the middle of that parking lot, there is a mound of snow that resembles a crater - with high ridges and a depression in the center. I played on that mound of snow for a few passes before I headed west toward The University of Toledo.

Once on campus, I found another hill or two to play on. I zig-zagged up the path by Parks Tower, rode down the grass hill on the back-side of Parks Tower, and then rode up the hill next to the stadium. I rode a wheelie up the hill next to the stadium.

A quick trip east of the university took me through the old stomping grounds and back to St Francis and Jesu. From there, I basically re-traced my tracks back to home.

Here are a few pictures I took along the way.