The difference between “hardcore” and “stupid” is only one degree. I think I crossed a line somewhere tonight.
It reached 62 degrees in Boston today. Rain filled the first half of the day. Things looked to be clearing up in the evening. I had been writing a paper for law school all day. When I finished, despite the weather, I got the bright idea to go riding. No one ever said law students were smart.
The 60 min drive out the local mountain was filled with fog and a light mist. It was dark and spooky. I was expecting to see the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane around ever turn. There were about 30 cars in the mountain parking lot. Half must have been employees. I walk to the base of the mountain. I get on the lift. I ride 1/4 of the way up, and I have yet to see a single person. The lift goes over the terrain park. By the time I get 2/3 of the way I up, I see about 15 riders in the terrain park. No one else is on the mountain.
Just as I am about to get off the lift, the rain starts. First, it was just a sprinkle. By the time I finish my first run, it is full-on. This is going to be interesting night, I think. It is still like 50 degrees outside. One of my gloves has a gapping hole in it. New ones are coming tomorrow. If it had actually been cold out, I wouldn’t have gone since I’d have to worry about hand freezing off. The only problem was all the water getting inside. My jacket and pants blew me away at just HOW water proof they were. I kept thinking, “Ok, I’ll leave when I start getting wet, but aside from my ripped open glove, I was bone dry. Oh, and then there was my face. Since it was warm, I didn’t bring my face mask. However, the rain, wind, and my speed made my face get really cold/wet/numb/etc. But not like a mask would have helped that much, those things aren’t really waterproof.
And then there was the “snow.” The conditions got WRECKED because of the rain and warm weather all day. The loose stuff had washed / melted off. What was left was hard crud, large sheet of ice, and large sheets of half-melted ice / mush…and some puddles. I actually liked the snow. I like hard, flat conditions. You can FLY with snow like that. The ice-sheets, mush-puddles, etc just gave me something to dodge around, and keep me on my toes. I spent the night going between the terrain park (wow, was THAT icy!) and the trail next to it. The best part of the night was when there was like 8 snowboarders at the top of the lift/trail. Some older dude said, “Man, it’s awesome to see you guys out tonight. Only people with true love would be here right now…and those are the best people to ride with.” (I’ll give you one guess what brand of board he was riding. It should be obvious. Answer below.) I
I eventually left, not because my hands and face were cold and soaked, not because there were running streams of water going down the middle of some trails, or because conditions were going down hill fast. I left because of visibility issues; it was just raining too hard to see. Fucking Noah. I only rode for about 80 min, but it was pouring the whole time.
Driving home I was trying to figure out if it had been a waste of time or not. I think that random guys quote at the top of the mountain made it all worth it.
Answer: Never Summer
It reached 62 degrees in Boston today. Rain filled the first half of the day. Things looked to be clearing up in the evening. I had been writing a paper for law school all day. When I finished, despite the weather, I got the bright idea to go riding. No one ever said law students were smart.
The 60 min drive out the local mountain was filled with fog and a light mist. It was dark and spooky. I was expecting to see the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane around ever turn. There were about 30 cars in the mountain parking lot. Half must have been employees. I walk to the base of the mountain. I get on the lift. I ride 1/4 of the way up, and I have yet to see a single person. The lift goes over the terrain park. By the time I get 2/3 of the way I up, I see about 15 riders in the terrain park. No one else is on the mountain.
Just as I am about to get off the lift, the rain starts. First, it was just a sprinkle. By the time I finish my first run, it is full-on. This is going to be interesting night, I think. It is still like 50 degrees outside. One of my gloves has a gapping hole in it. New ones are coming tomorrow. If it had actually been cold out, I wouldn’t have gone since I’d have to worry about hand freezing off. The only problem was all the water getting inside. My jacket and pants blew me away at just HOW water proof they were. I kept thinking, “Ok, I’ll leave when I start getting wet, but aside from my ripped open glove, I was bone dry. Oh, and then there was my face. Since it was warm, I didn’t bring my face mask. However, the rain, wind, and my speed made my face get really cold/wet/numb/etc. But not like a mask would have helped that much, those things aren’t really waterproof.
And then there was the “snow.” The conditions got WRECKED because of the rain and warm weather all day. The loose stuff had washed / melted off. What was left was hard crud, large sheet of ice, and large sheets of half-melted ice / mush…and some puddles. I actually liked the snow. I like hard, flat conditions. You can FLY with snow like that. The ice-sheets, mush-puddles, etc just gave me something to dodge around, and keep me on my toes. I spent the night going between the terrain park (wow, was THAT icy!) and the trail next to it. The best part of the night was when there was like 8 snowboarders at the top of the lift/trail. Some older dude said, “Man, it’s awesome to see you guys out tonight. Only people with true love would be here right now…and those are the best people to ride with.” (I’ll give you one guess what brand of board he was riding. It should be obvious. Answer below.) I
I eventually left, not because my hands and face were cold and soaked, not because there were running streams of water going down the middle of some trails, or because conditions were going down hill fast. I left because of visibility issues; it was just raining too hard to see. Fucking Noah. I only rode for about 80 min, but it was pouring the whole time.
Driving home I was trying to figure out if it had been a waste of time or not. I think that random guys quote at the top of the mountain made it all worth it.
Answer: Never Summer