Inversion Haiku

We’ve had an inversion this weekend. Cold settles into the valley overnight and then it takes all day to warm up. Sunday morning it was 28 degrees with brilliant sunshine and no wind when I left home on my mountain bike to meet the dirt bags at the Circle Bean. The 8:30 departure time came and went so I finished my coffee and headed out for a solo ride.

Riding alone was OK. I’m working through the sudden death of my friend Rosemarie last Sunday and used the steep climb up Chip Ross Park to compose a letter to her husband in my mind. It was good to be alone on a Sunday morning in the Church of the Spoked Wheel. God’s hand work was all around. At the top of the hill I came out of the trees into the brilliant sunshine with the letter about half done.

The singletrack to the base of Dan’s Trail required my full attention. It’s been dry for more than a week and the trail is all rideable downhill. Climbing up Dan’s toward Dimple Hill, the ground had thawed enough that there were a few muddy spots. A couple required short walks. At one point I came around a corner and was accelerating up a short steep pitch when the rear wheel encountered a root. The wheel spun with a br-a-a-a-p sound as the lugs slipped past the root. Forward motion stopped and the wheel went sideways along the root. I was down in an instant, still clipped into the bike. The trail was soft duff and damp soil, so there was no pain, but it took a while to get unclipped and back up.

Dimple Hill is about 2500’ and just poking into the warm air above the inversion. It was in the 50’s and calm at the peak, but there was a steady wind rustling the tops of the trees. I put all the clothes I’d shed on the way up back on and plunged back down the cold. By the time I got down to Oak Creek there was ice next to the road in the shady spots. Out in the sun on the way home it rapidly warmed up and by the time I got to Bald Hill Park there were plenty of families and dog owners enjoying the sun.

Inversion Haiku

Frozen mud below
Climbing the cold shady trail
Warm spring wind above