Axle Deep Optimism
Free Slush Upgrade
Last night started like one of those rides where you think you accidentally chose the right life. Patty Canyon looked perfect from the parking lot, fresh snow with that soft, sticky grip that makes a fat bike feel like it has claws. I rolled out a little late, sky fading out, and the trail was doing that polite thing where it pretends it will behave. The snow even firmed up as it got dark, which felt like nature rewarding my questionable time management. I pushed toward Deer Creek, feeling oddly confident, like I was about to get a personal applause break from the universe.
Then the universe remembered who I am and adjusted the difficulty setting. The snow got deeper until downhill stopped being downhill, because it was up to my axles and the bike just… sat there. So I made the kind of decision you only make at night: cut toward Zephyr and gamble on a power line I had never ridden, half expecting a secret shortcut, half expecting a swamp with feelings. Twenty feet in, it turned into something between a tree well and a prank. The bike would not turn around, my legs were working overtime, and I spent about an hour wrestling in silence like a guy arguing with a mattress in public.
Eventually I muscled free, walked it back out, and clawed my way to the Patty Canyon trails again. I told myself I deserved dessert, so I dropped into Sammy B grinning, right up until the trail turned into a rotating menu of slush, fake-rideable snow, and then straight mud. By the time I hit the truck, I was shivering, pants packed with slush, staring down a cleanup I did not order. Still, driving home, heater blasting, I felt that quiet relief: I went out, I got it done, and I came back with the kind of tired that means I am still in the game.
Like this? Twenty-four years of February 28ths tell a story of someone who can’t sit still, even when life tries to pin them down. Back in 2002, I was bouncing back from overtraining while shredding trails at Brookfield Park. A year later in 2003, winter had me trapped indoors, daydreaming about photography upgrades and eating “extra munchies” on photo walks that were really just excuses to get out. See February 28th, Unfiltered: 11 moments from February 28, across the years.