It doesn't happen often, but temperatures will drop into the teens and snow does fall in Dixie. And when it does, we Southerners have to make the most of it.

Snow hit the Atlanta area last weekend. I got a whopping 2 inches at my house in the city! It was time to build a snow man, break out the sled (well, I had to borrow one from a neighbor) and throw the mountain bike on the car for a trip into the hills to tackle some snowy singletrack.

Peter, teammate Patricia Williams Smith, Floridian Don Nettlow from Team TravelCountry.com, and I met in Blue Ridge about 2 hours north of Atlanta to train and test our winter riding skills. Of course everything froze -- fingers, toes, water bladders and my beard. We had a great time, even though we knew our winter wonderland would melt away in just a few days.

And it did. Forecast for Tuesday: High of 65 degrees. I kinda like that, too.

Great photos, Peter

- Paul

For the upcoming 2008 season, Peter Jolles is the new team captain for Team Checkpoint Zero/INOV-8. Former team captain Jon Barker is concentrating on other things for the year although still on the roster (waaaayyyy down). Good luck Peter and the rest of the squad for the upcoming season.

Peter & Jon both ran the Fat Ass 50K at Kennesaw Mountain this past weekend and both got a top ten finish in a "lively paced" race. Cramping was an issue with temperatures climbing 25 degrees during the race on an unseasonably warm January Sunday.

-Jon