The first significant snowfall of the season started out as mostly sleet and then rain, but even when it picked up in places like Bluemont, two intrepid cyclists pushed through.
In Leesburg, all of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s preparation kept the roads passable, even when the temperatures dipped below freezing. By noon on Saturday, light, wet snow had started to fall. Places toward the west like Winchester got a bit more, but treated roads were fine.
And if you were really into snow, you did have to travel a bit to get some. About halfway between Leesburg and Winchester, at the foot of the aptly named Mount Weather in Bluemont, there was just enough snow to make things postcard picturesque.
We're making it easier for you to find stories that matter with our new newsletter — The 4Front. Sign up here and get news that is important for you to your inbox.
“I’ve been wanting to go over Mount Weather for a little while, and I just got impatient,” cyclist Alex Scheets said.
So he asked good friend Brian Garcia to come along.
“I was like, you wanna do this with me? And he was like, ‘I’ll do it! I’m down! Let's go!’” Scheets said. “That’s kind of what I had in mind when I was picturing the ride. In my head I was like, I want it to be snowing like this.”
Though they were fully aware of the forecast and didn’t let it stop them, by the time they ridden 23.5 miles to the front porch of the Bluemont Welcome Center, they’d seen enough.
“Turning around and going back we’ll have to do the same distance, so we got our distance in. I think for safety’s sake we’re gonna avoid going any higher in elevation,” Sheets said.
Early on, there wasn’t enough snow to shovel, and what was on cars the wipers could handle. So snow-lovers in the DMV will have to wait, like the cyclists headed back the way they came will have to wait to go higher up the mountain.
