In a lot of ways the mountainous part of Virginia was a great place to grow up. It was incredibly beautiful, wonderfully hilly, and we had winter.
We had the kind of Winters that kids dream of. It snowed often, and a lot at a time. Often, on the back side of those snowstorms, we would have a terrific arctic high front come through. The air would get crystal clear, and the temp would drop through the floor. All this made for some terrific sledding and snow play.
We were inventive. We had sleds, and a few kids had honest to goodness toboggans. But there were some amazing improvised snow things too. Two of the most popular items belonged to two different guys. One had this huge truck inner tube. Inflated the thing was about eight feet in diameter. A mob of kids could get on it and push it over the side of our favorite sledding hills. There was no steering it. It would rotate as it went down. It also went fast.
Another improvised item was an old steel advertising sign. It had been an advert for a bottled soft drink. The thing was dished. Imagine a kid’s snow saucer, but imagine it being ten feet across.
It’s a wonder any of us survived.
However, it didn’t always snow enough to satisfy us. Sometimes it would just get cold and stay that way, but with no snow on the ground. About then, fertile minds would get active. Remember that. We’ll come back to it.
On our property, near the house, was a pond of about three acres. It would freeze hard. We would go out there and skate. Somewhere along the line, I got the idea to try riding my bike on the pond. The initial results were pretty much predictable. But with practice, I actually got fairly good at it. I could get going, and then start to steer. The bike would skid. I’d drop a foot and slide with it. It was fun.
Not far from where I lived, was a neighborhood shaped like a circle. It was possible to access every house from either end of the circle. The residents decided to do something fun for the kids. They ran a hose outside and allowed it to soak the hill in the middle of the circle. Soon the entire street was a long, steep sheet of ice.
We could take our sleds and go ripping down that ice hill. It wasn’t particularly dangerous, as the hill tipped back up, and it wasn’t curved. We’d hit the bottom at great speed, but then we’d be going uphill again, and slow to a safe speed for dismount.
Actually, a sled wasn’t even necessary. It was possible to run at the ice from the top and flop down on your belly and slide. Much crazy fun!
You can probably see it coming. I don’t remember just whose idea it was, but someone suggested that I try my ice-bike trick on the hill. I went home, got the bike, and returned.
The first time I tried to go down the hill, I just slid out, and fell over. The bike and I slid harmlessly down together, side by side. I walked back up the side of the road (where the ice wasn’t) and tried it again. Similar results. I don’t know why, but it occurred to me that I needed some speed before I hit the ice. I started on the back side of the hill, got going, and went onto the slick.
The bike wobbled under me, but I corrected. Another partial skid, and another correction. So far so good. Time for the slide. I hit the coaster brake and dropped a foot as the bike slid. That worked, but then the bike found traction on a thinner part of the icy street. It stopped! I went over the top, and found myself sliding down the hill, head first, on my back, the wind knocked out of me. I cam to rest in some shrubbery near the bottom of the hill. The bike slid slowly down after me.
A horrified parent had witnessed the attempt. The hill was salted, and that was the end of the ice sledding. Probably a good thing.
MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!
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