Top 5 best-ever rides

yesterday made the list. i started out the ride by griping and stealing steven's glove liners on account of my lame circulation. we rolled through some valley near waynesboro, va. then climbed reed's gap, which i am positive was over 18% in places. ordinarily not a problem but the mandytee's 15 extra lbs made it suck (+12.5% of my bodyweight, people!). i promised steven i didn't hate him. then we descended past wintergreen ski resort, and climed back up to reed's gap. and again, i had to reassure steven that i didn't hate him even though the banana slugs in santa cruz (which i ingested as a child on a dare) woulda beat me up that climb. but then came the best part: the blue ridge parkway. conveniently closed to cars for the winter. we rolled toward the "road closed" gate (and passed what looked like a serial-killer, smiling from his late-model chevrolet) and thus commenced the last half of one my favorite rides, ever. we rode in snow, people. and we're not talking snow on the sides of the road. we're talking 4 inches under our tires. and it was awesome! and not just a few feet. miles and miles of it. we had it all to ourselves. and i was stoked. i "got my 'cross on" again!
i grew up skiing, and hated nearly every minute of it (sorry family...it wasn't about your company, but the cold). this was the best snow experience i'd had in a long time. the last time i liked snow on/around me was in the hottub at aspen a few winters ago. i'm that cranky about it.
except the snow-covered trees, the parkway looked just like this:

we are so hard-core.