Enlightened By The Cold

So I am still in my post ride euphoric daze as I am writing this. Riding five hours in Jim Thorpe will do that to you, but the experience is always a little bit better when the trails are covered with two inches of fresh snow that continues to build throughout the ride. Today's plan was to do a 4 peaks ride, covering Flagstaff, Pisgah, Nesquehoning, and Broad mountains. At the trailhead, the realization of the ride's impossibility came immediately with the apparantly slippy conditions. After about three hours of sliding, hiking, and rolling along the sweet ridgelines that the area has to offer our small group began joking around about our ride turning into an "Epic Conditions" story on The Weather Channel. As far fetched this idea is, it can potentially become a reality if by chance someone were injured due to the carelessness often experienced due to exposure of the less than comfortable environment in combination with exhaustion. This "chance" would never stop me from going out and having wreckless fun with my friends, but is something I find interesting to ponder about.