Let it Blow, Let it Blow, Let it Blow

Me?  I'm usually a huge winter fan.  Snowshoeing is fun, skiing is fun, winter riding is fun and sledding is fun.  What isn't fun is getting f-ing snow every freakin day so you're spending all of your time shoveling and plowing (darn you long driveway!) instead of enjoying the winter.  Not to mention that when it snows every day, snowmobilers aren't able to keep up with keeping the trails packed for proper bike riding.  Lazy drunk bastards.

I haven't let the snow slow me down from my season goals though.  Cross training is fun and keeps things fresh come race season so I'm not REALLY complaining about all the snow but this blog is all about bitching and whining so I've got to keep with the program.

Last night, I decided to take Jason's comment from yesterday's post seriously and decided to do a write up about my night time snowshoe.  Thankfully, things were interesting.

The pooch and I headed out just before dark on what was supposed to be one of our short 3-4 hour sessions (we're building up for an actual long snowshoe).  We'd been out for maybe an hour when the pooch starts going ballistic and her nose takes her straight into a evergreen thicket where she proceeded to bark and howl.  Usually, I just ignore such behavior, continue on and she'll catch up in a few minutes.  Last night though, it was apparent that she had actually found something so I backtracked, got on my hands and knees and ventured into the thicket.

After much cursing, snow down my back and pants and maybe a touch of crying, I made it to an opening in the thicket that had a monstrous oak rising out of the middle.  I found Autumn here, frantically barking while running around and trying to climb the tree.  It was then that I looked up and saw the biggest freaking bear I've ever seen.  The bear was probably 20' up the tree in the crook of a huge limb.  Why it was afraid of 40lb Autumn was beyond me since the thing looked to be pushing 500lbs itself but it was afraid none the less.

I didn't have a camera with me so I didn't take any pictures but I've been making a habit of sketching more recently to try to bring my skills back and I did have a pad and pencil with me so I proceeded to sketch.  I took some liberties with the sketch, making the bear look a bit more ferocious than he/she actually was but here you go (I touched it up a bit when I got back to the house):

After calming Autumn down and finishing the sketch I put Autumn on leash and dragged her home with both of us thoroughly exhausted from the experience.

Oh, and just so we're clear.  I made all of that up.  What actually happened was Autumn and I went out for 40 minutes, she barely left my side since I had cheese and hot dogs in my pockets and then I went home a made a mock-up of our kitchen cabinets.  Not nearly as exciting.

1-21-11
Run time: :40
Ride time: 000
Ride distance: 00 miles

Total run time: 4:55
Total ride time: 5:05
Total distance: 46 miles