Local offroad ride of two halves

Woke up with a gentle frost on the van windscreen and the roads etc looked dry with the forecast sunny so I decided to take my Dale Superx cx bike for a spin today. On the way into work there was cars coming the other direction from high ground with a good couple of inches of snow on them. When I got to work the roads were like an ice ring and a dusting of snow. Out on the bike the sun was out but still a very strong chilly wind blowing. I thought I had took the wrong bike as when I gained some elevation the country lane was 1/2" sheet ice covered in snow but the marathon extreme tyres worked very well and never lost traction one. After climbing 300ft into the headwind it was time for some downhill. Descending down through Deerness valley the sun had thawed the frost/snow from the old line and it was like pea soup. I was totally covered in horrible, freezing cold, brown/black spray. By the time I got to Esh Winning I knew I had took the wrong bike! I should have took the Eastway with full winter mudguards. I even thought about dropping onto the road because it was that bad in places. Once at Ushaw Moor it seemed to dry up in places so kept on the line back to Meadowfield.
Now its time to wash the bike, all my clothes and myself, oh the joys of winter riding.

first ride on snow/ice for my marathon extreme tyres

lovely clear views on the climb

you can tell this country lane doesn't see any salt !

hills are white over in Weardale way

at the top, clean & dry

not for long

bottom of the descent, they were clean when I left

wish I had took my Eastway with full mudguards on

time to freeze by butt off washing the bike again