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Awesome ride yesterday.  Over the weekend we got a bunch of rain and then on Saturday night, the rain turned to sleet for several hours.  The after effect was about an inch of dense cover over the nice solid, frozen tundra.  The sleet on the ground had the look and sound of a sheet of Styrofoam and the only way that I can think to describe the sensation of riding on it is that it felt sort of like skiing on freshly groomed corduroy.  Everything felt effortless and turning grip rocked!  On some of the trails that consist mostly of pine needles, it was much easier and quicker to take the turns last night than it was all summer.  Interesting effect.  The single track sections totally rocked and I actually looped around a couple to do twice, they were so much fun.  Some of the double track sections left a bit to be desired because with so little snow cover the hoarfrost was out in force causing some pretty tough riding in sections.  Some sections were made even more interesting because of the amount of rain that we’ve received lately that is now ice.  It can be sketchy going downhill on a stream but its fun as hell to try to ride up one.  Of course, I roll most of the winter on a set of Nokian studded tires from our friends at Bikeman.  The one bummer on the ride was that at about 1:20 into the ride, my light started to go dim.  The light used to go for 2+ hours no problem but I guess I have been using it for 3-4 years now so the battery is probably just tired.  Thankfully I have almost $250 in gift certificates to LLBean where I bought the light originally so maybe I’ll get a replacement there.