Ice Biking

Conditions right today for what could be our once in a lifetime frozen river biking trip!  Met the Meetup group at the Matanuska River outside of Palmer -- it was billed as a "bike and skate" trip -- we'd never heard of that before -- some people ice skated, and others just biked down the frozen river, a lot of it smooth as glass.  High winds at times this winter contribute to the snow being blown off the ice and it staying smooth.  You can only do it with special tires with studs, and one person had some that looked "home constructed" with self-tapping screws - he had the best traction!  We had unobstructed views of the mountains, and you're in a place that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to go.  They said it was unusual for the ice to be this good, so they're taking advantage of it this year!  The water isn't very deep in the river, but almost every nice here is 0 or below 0 degrees.  We went over snow in some places, cracks in the ice, etc.  Judy, who is not a mountain biker fell twice, and even Brian fell once -- that ice is slippery!  Another beautiful sunny day in Alaska -- this actually is the easiest winter we've ever gone through - who would have thought we would say that in Alaska!  Tonight we took a walk downtown from our house and had out choice of restaurants for a glass of wine and calamari -- wish you were here!