So it snowed last monday, but then it was sunny all week. From my house, it looked like the snow had melted. My house however, is on the south side of the hills. One of my favourite winter spins starts in a place called Bramafan. Well, I guess I never thought about it, but now I realise it is to the north of the hills. Today I learned about exposition, and how important it is in the mountains during winter!
What a day, starting in a place so small (6 houses) that my buddy Seb's GPS couldnt find it (this might have been a sign). I was expecting a little bit of snow at the top of the hill, so was a little bit worried when I parked next to a patch about 20cm deep! Not as worried as Seb who had only brought ankle socks and a pair of shorts. The previous day he had done a 4h cycle just down the road, on some dusty dry trails at a balmy 13 sunny degrees.
"Dont worry, it's only a 2h spin". This it turns out was a foolish estimate, I had added 20 minutes to my personal best to account for the snow, turns out I should have doubled it!!! I carried my bike on my back about 90% of the way, Seb who doesnt like that approach pushed his through the snow, by far the most tiring approach. All the easy flat sections became nightmarishly hard. To be fair, we got some good pictures, and the descent was very doable, although this led to another disappointment: after about 4h of carrying, pushing, sweating and freezing our toes and ankles. The descent took a total of about 5 minutes...
