December 13, 2009

  • Winter Riding - (Last 5 weeks riding summary)

    The snow is on the ground now and this is one of my favorite times to ride.    This is mostly because the trails change to make them "new" again and the challenge is more about balance and handling and sliding around. 

    I have ridden 5 or so times in the snow this year and each ride has been different.  Snow and temperature make for a different experience each time.   I prefer the light fluffy stuff, since it's the easiest to pedal through.   It's probably contrary to most thinking but when the snow is light even if it's pretty deep the pedaling is easy.  It's actually easier than following packed down stuff by skis or snowshoes or plain old feet.    The  worst stuff is warm snow, you know the kind of stuff that's good for making snow balls.    Packed medium stuff is OK, but it can be really bumpy and you will really be happy to be on a full suspension bike or be wishing you were.... 

    About four weeks ago I hooked up with Ron for a ride around pine ridge.   The snow was fresh but we started out a bit lake and it was starting to warm up.   We ran into Tim W. on us SS while we were out there and we rode together for a while.  I was surprised how well Tim was able to keep up on the SS.  I was on the Trek and working pretty hard, but Tim was right there.   Tim has an old school SS which he built up from a frame he got for $25 dollars.   I was really glad that I wasn't on the SS or so I thought at the time.   We ended up taking the roads home with Ron setting a stiff tempo up Centennial towards CR 38.   I was holding my own and Tim on the SS was next to me until I got tired and he easily was able to catch Ron and I watched as I suffered in tow.  Hmm I thought, "Wonder how I would have done on my SS with a bike that weighs 6 lbs lighter....

    It was three weeks ago I hooked up with Barb to do some Pineridge snow riding.  She was on her new 29'r!  The snow conditions were good and light.  I choose the SS for this ride and we had a good time in the hard packed snow.  This was probably the most ridable snow that I had been in this year.  Too bad the SS was having issues with chain skip and made climbing a real pain.   Turns out I just needed to remove a link.  In any case it was cool to show  Barb some trails that she hadn't ridden before or at least in a while.  We did the trail above shoreline over to Maxwell and went around the long side of Maxwell. and then looped up  and back to do shoreline.  I could see how nice the  29'r handled some of the rocky stuff where I was struggling the 9'r made it look easy. Hmm  I was looking at the 9'rs on bikes direct and for < $500 I could have another bike in my basement.....

    So a couple of weeks ago it was snowing once again.  This time I figured I would take the SS and see how I would fair in the snow.  This would be my 1st ride in the snow so I didn't know how it would do.  I met Ron on the bike path and we went to ride Pineridge on this one.    The 1st climb into Pineridge we both pretty much had to walk and I was thinking that this was not a good day for the SS.  Oh well...   Finally we were  able to make it to the top of the ridge with some combo walking and riding.    Things got better as on the other side as we were able to ride most of the time.  I was surprised how well the SS was able to keep up in the ~ 8 . 10 inches.   We found it easier to break trail ourselves, riding where we didn't see  traks.  Now I see how Tim could do so well on the SS. We struggled to make it to the base of Maxwell where we turned around.  I found the SS to be great, but I need more sustained leg power to do as well as I think I would have on a geared bike in some of the more challenging sections. 

    Five weeks ago is probably the 1st time on the SS that it felt really light an that I was able to push though some stuff that I hadn't' before.   I was climbing Maxwell on it (34 x 20 gear) and I was able to clean a lot of it.  I did have to rest a couple of time but I was feeling the bike and it was good!.  I ended up riding over to Lory and met this West German guy Hendrik, who was taking a break from skiing and doing the MTB thing.  It was really warm out and muddy and sloppy and we ended up trashing our bikes going through Lory.   We met some runners out there and we chatted with them.  One of the guys was wearing those Barefoot skins and we had noticed the foot prints earlier and wondered what crazy fool would be running in the snow and mud barefoot.   The runners were pretty cool if not crazy!   I was surprised, when Hendrik said that I pushed him pretty good that day.  This is when the bike started skipping gears.... Not sure what started this... but it was annoying on the climbs.....

    Today's ride was probably the most grueling SS ride that I have had.   I decided that it would be a good idea to try something different.  I have always wanted to do the Blue Sky trail and I figured that this is as good a day as any.  Well, that wasn't true as I found out later as it was much too warm.   The snow at Coyote Ridge was hard and bumpy, but I was up for it!   I could only make it partially up the climbs as the snow was blown over at points.  I took me over an hour of pushing and riding just to make it to the top of the ridge.   I was quite surprised and dismayed that more folks hadn't been on the trail.  I could see maybe only 2 folks had been there before me which made the trail tough going.   I had never walked so much in all my days on a MTB with the exception of the Powerline trail in Leadville.   I cold only hope that Blue Sky would be more traveled.  Not!     Looks like only one person was there before me.!  Argh  That was the hardest 3 miles of riding that I have done in a while.  It was basically an interval session with me riding until my legs got tired or I just couldn't go and  then resting... rinse later repeat.   This snow was the kind that was good for making snowmen, which meant it packed up on the bike a lot and was slippery.   I was never so glad to make it to the road.   Even with tires that were in the "Rock Crawler" lbs this was grueling.

    (Snow is like a box of chocolates, you Never know what your're gonna get! ) Anyway,  the snow riding has been good to me and I have been having a good time on the SS.  The SS turns old trails into new challenges.   If only I had a 29'r....   Bummer I lost the pics of Tim and Ron cause my card got hosed.....    Plenty more rides in the snow this year is a given...