Monika is a bit nuts; but Maca, on her left, and Lukas, on her right, agreed, while under the influence, to go for a ride on Saturday

Needless to say both dangerous and entertaining.
By the end of the night our group of around 10 drank something like 30liters (more than a half keg) but one other table of 5 guys beat us with almost 50liters (a fullkeg!)

Luckily the have a huge ass tank of beer.
(I’ll take a picture of the delivery truck one day. It’s looks like a little fuel tanker.)

So we got drunk and stayed late.
With 2 other guys I agreed (late in the evening) in Czech to meet on Saturday morning under a bridge on the edge of town to go biking, assuming it was expected to get up near 0 °C.

under the bridge downtown is where I drew some blood

Anyway, 9am on Saturday(Jan10) as planned I was waiting under the bridge.

it was warm and dry under here

It was -8°C, and I was alone.
I sent a couple derogatory SMS’s and then went for a ride by myself.
(one guy forgot who he was supposed to go riding with and called the wrong guy to cancel and the other just bailed due to the cold.)

rollin' up a forest road

more logging road style cruising

It was a perfect ride.
Snowy (not icy) and lots of fresh track.

open single track

great wintery scenery

I saw several bikers, just none I knew. One even asked me if I knew if the next bar was open at 10am. I assumed yes (it still being in the Czech Republic and all), but didn’t know, but sure enough when we got there, it was so he split off for a beer and I kept riding.

as long as you don't need the sun

some parts were quite well travelled

and even hinted at blue sky

solid water makes for some shortcuts

The creeks were solid which made for some easier crossings, but a few of the little log bridges were too shady to even walk. All the little bridges were fine though.

some bridges were still the best option

and some were not really rideable in the snow

All n’ all a great ride

almost back home

22.5km & 2.5 hours on single, double track, dirt, gravel & paved bike path; all snow covered.
with overcast skies, avg. temp of -5 °C, & a high of almost -3°C

__________

The next day(Jan11) Verča was itching to ride after not having ridden since before new year’s so we drove 15 minutes outside of Prague to the part or Brdy closest to the city. (we did this in lieu of the out and back on the riverside bike path that would have been rather unbearable with the -7°C weather and a probable headwind on the way home.)

We parked on top of the ridge in a little town and ventured off across a snowy field and then down a creek valley to the river below.

hmm... she hasn't got the hang of not using brakes yet

much better (but that left foot is still not clipped in!)

Right of the bat Verča was a bit iffy on the steep technical descent on snow covered leaves and I had to wait a bit, since I am not so big on using brakes. After a little warm-up she was fine and we were on our way.
But there were still a few obstacles to our progress.

not riding again

OK, so this really wasn't rideable. I think I may have hit a tree trying to ride it.

We passed a lady walking up and she made some comment like “are you lost?”
No we weren’t, but we did slide down a few step chutes and portage over MANY felled trees.

ha ha! she's still following me.

sucker! (oh wait she might be able to hear me now!)

There were some good smooth riding sections too, see!

railing a slick turn (on the third try)

at times even too fast for the camera man!

We even had to hike-a-bike a few steep ass hills.

cyclocross!!

why isn't she pedalling?

oh yeah, long and steep! stupid trails designed for hikers!

It wasn’t too icy, but it was definitely slow going.

In the end we only rode 18.5km & ~3hours, but it was 99% single and double track completely covered in snow
again overcast skies, high temp of -6 °C, & low of -8°C