February Groundhog rides

[north woods gal]

Around, here, groundhogs don't bother to do their prediction thing until at least March and, some years, April, but since February starts with Groundhog's Day in the rest of the country, thought I'd start our monthly February ride thread with the groundhog label.

Yes, I am still riding in the snow. I'm so addicted to it that I'm still desperately shoveling snow off sections of my trails so that I don't have to ride out on the road. Talk about nuts! The snow is actually thigh deep on both sides of the trail in some sections, so I have to be very careful not to lean into my turns too much or I jam the pedals into the snow on either side of the trail. Not something you folks in the tropics have to deal with.

No, still haven't surrendered and given into doing the indoor trainer thing.

Hope everyone has a good moth of riding. Spring is just around the corner ... somewhere. Just not here. :)

[emily_in_nc]

We rode both Feb 1 and 2. In addition to being Groundhog's Day, it was our dog's 10th birthday. :-) Florida temps have been up and down, so some days we're in shorts and short-sleeve jerseys; other days tights and a few layers up top. Most days have been windy as well. Next week looks warmer, after Monday, so we're looking forward to that.

NWG, you continue to amaze me. Your hatred for the indoor trainer is a terrific motivator, though! :D

[Crankin]

I understand NWG's hatred for the trainer. Mine's been unused for 2 years. However, due to the weird winter we are having, I am having to be creative, to be outside. The snow came early, and then we have had alternating frigid temps with no snow and wet, warm, rainy days. A few days with decent riding temperatures for Boston in the winter had roads full of water and/or wind. Most of my outdoor activity has been hiking, punctuated by a few trips north for nordic skiing. Thankfully, we leave for our annual trip to Vermont in 10 days. We are going as far north as one can go in Vermont, and still be not in Canada! The web cam from Craftsbury shows a 15 inch base, but we shall see.
Posted our first group ride to lead, on 4/28. Of course, I had better be out on the road at least 5 weeks before. I used to say my first ride is usually around March 5th, but last year it wasn't until the last week in March. One day i snow shoed, the next day I rode. I just want to ride or ski, neither of which I have been doing much of. I have been religiously going to the gym, though and even have done a few spin classes, where at least i can talk to others, despite the fact the classes themselves are boring and not that well taught.

[Geonz]

We're having same kind of switches in midwest. Yesterday I rode to church in 33 degrees w/ a little bit of snow... but came out of church to 22 degrees. Fortunately there was enough salt and dirt so things weren't glare-y, but it was 8 below this morning at the airport, with another dusting of snow... so I was on the bus. I did drag the trainer upstairs so perhaps tonight or tomorrow night it'll get set up...

[ny biker]

I've lost track. Things are nuts at work. A couple of times I planned to put in some time on the indoor trainer but was too tired when I got home (after 11 pm) to do it. I did pedal in the living room for about 30 minutes last week while talking on the phone to my nephew, who just started a new job.

I'm okay for now with being too busy at work, since I'm gaining useful experience and this is the time of year when I'm not very active anyway. But I am starting to feel like I need more exercise to clear my head and recharge the mental batteries. And in less than a month I will be hoping to have decent weather to get back outside and ride once or twice a week.

[north woods gal]

Hope you manage it all, N.Y. When I was a career mom, it was all I could do to ride even once a week and sometimes couldn't even manage that, especially in the winter. Some days, no way could I find time to do any kind of exercise and was too tired to some, anyway. Commuting by bike was my way of sneaking in some ride time when I could, but that wasn't always an option.

Retirement has been such a blessing for my riding. Trust me, I'll never take the free time it gives me for granted. You'll get there.

Today, temps actually got into double digits. Trail was all hard pack and got a nice 5 mile workout on the trails, then back in the house for some hot cocoa. :)

[ny biker]

Thanks NWG. I took the weekend off from all things related to work and got in a good 45-minute workout on the trainer last night. Also did 15 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym on Friday, would have done more but didn't get there early enough.

Chicago just had measurable snow for 9 straight days -- did it fall on you too?

[Crankin]

What a strange winter this has been.
Saturday was 50 degrees with snow melt like crazy. I went for a trail run in slush. Sunday, we had pouring rain all day. It was well forecasted, so I went to spin at 7:30 AM, since I had a bunch of cooking to do, to get ready for my trip to Vermont. What a weird spin class. A bunch of much older (well, they seemed older than me, like 70-80) men and women who were dressed in cotton, hence sweating profusely, and smelly :eek:. It was so humid in the room, from the rain. They were alternately not doing much on the bike, spinning like crazy, or groaning. It's a very small room, the bikes are jammed together and it was hard to concentrate with all of this, even though the class was actually good. Then, when I went to leave, I had my jacket and bag for my shoes in the corner. When I went to get it, the fan that was on the floor got knocked over and hit the pedal of the woman on the bike that was next to it. The class was over and she was still riding. She got all pissy; I don't even know if it was my "fault," but I saw her again this morning and she was kind of mean. But, she's always like that.
We leave Wednesday for far northeastern VT. I am so looking forward to x country skiing, but I think there may even be some rain up there. Sigh... it's going to be 50 here on Wednesday, and my club is doing a ride I would actually enjoy for a first ride of the year. Well, I will be in the car, praying for snow!
Hopefully, I will have a fabulous weekend skiing and ride next Wednesday.

[north woods gal]

Thanks NWG. I took the weekend off from all things related to work and got in a good 45-minute workout on the trainer last night. Also did 15 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym on Friday, would have done more but didn't get there early enough.

Chicago just had measurable snow for 9 straight days -- did it fall on you too?

No, all the snow has been moving south of us and I'm okay with that. We still have plenty on the ground. It's been an unusual ten day stretch of dry, but cold, weather, highs in the teens and dropping below zero, every night. Actually a good thing. My trails are in great shape, all packed hard from all my riding and the teens are still decent for riding.

We may see some warmer temps, this week, though. I have mixed feelings about that, because a little melting invariably turns to ice and then the trails get dangerous, fast. Ice is fine when you're riding the straight and level, but not so good on the techy stuff - sharp turns and quick steeps and drops (the fun stuff) and my trails have a lot of that.

Was chatting with some of my fat bike riding pals at the bike shop, this week about riding the ice. We all agreed that going down on the ice is spookier and nastier than when going down on dry trails. Comes so fast and without warning. No way to prepare for it and protect yourself. The bike literally flies out from under you, almost like an explosion. Have had my nastiest injuries going down on ice.

Of course, anyone with an ounce of good sense wouldn't be riding a bike on an icy trail, but that's definitely not me. :)

[emily_in_nc]

It is definitely a strange winter! Even here in central Florida, it shouldn't be summer yet, but that's what we are having lately -- lows around 65-70 and highs in the 80s. Pollen (that is normal) and humidity. I will say that it is nice not having to worry about layering up for a ride, which we were doing just a couple of weeks ago, but I would have preferred a more gradual spring-like transition. Normal high right now is 73 -- not 86!

Ah well, that's climate change for ya.

[ny biker]

Yeah we had lots of rain all weekend but it was warm. On Sunday it was in the 60s and I didn't even need a coat. I was just so happy it wasn't cold enough to be snow. I spent a few hours writing Get Out the Vote postcards for a special election in Pennsylvania. It was organized by the local Democratic committee and held at a nice house in a neighborhood that I ride through on my evening bike rides. It was fun seeing the inside of one of the houses for a change.

On Saturday I cleaned out closets in preparation for having new floors installed. I went through several drawers of bike stuff. When I get new gear I tend to keep the packaging in case it needs to be returned, and I keep instructions and extra parts like brackets or zip ties. I ended up getting rid of lots of unneeded cardboard and some old gear. Some will be donated and some (like old lights and batteries) will go to the hazmat/electronics recycling place.

So I had a good off-the-bike bike weekend.

NWG, do you have any studded tires for riding on ice?

[north woods gal]

NWG, do you have any studded tires for riding on ice?

Oh, yeah. In fact, in the winter I keep two fat bikes setup with studded tires. One has shallow lugs for riding fast on hardpack/ice and one has a very aggressive, deep tread for working through the deep stuff when there's ice underneath. Crazy expensive tires, but the studs allow me to ride in just about any day in the winter, any conditions and do provide a big margin of safety, but you do take a hit on speed and performance. Nevertheless, studded tires are no guarantee. I have gone down with the studded tires on the trails. Ice on the trails is a devil to figure. Hard to read and even see, sometimes. So very different than riding on a level road or even out on the lake ice. Perfectly smooth, clean lake ice is actually very easy to ride even with non-studded fat bike tires.

Much prefer riding my one of my other three fat bikes without studded tires to get my hour plus of riding done, every day. (Yeah, I have five fat bikes.) Much easier and faster ride without studs and regular fat bike tires do a great job in any kind of snow as long as there's no ice in the equation.

Tires and tire design are such a big deal for winter trail riding. Choosing which bike and tire combo to use on any given day is very much like trying to predict the best wax/skis for snow conditions when XC skiing. Have learned a ton about snow biking, thanks to having my own personal test track out my backdoor. Love it, but, yeah, I am looking forward to spring. :)

[Crankin]

Ha, I have enough trouble deciding clothing combinations for < 60 degrees! Actually, between 50 and 60 is the worst.
And I have waxless skis. I couldn't deal with worrying about that. Only thing I have is lube for when it's starting to get around freezing or higher and the snow gets sticky. It's not wax, though, just a roller stick of liquid stuff.
Yes, I m lazy.

[north woods gal]

"Waxless" is something of a misnomer. Waxless skis still need liquid glide wax to function at their best and when the temps drop down to around zero, I do have to resort to using regular cold weather hot wax or I basically find myself glued to the snow. :)

Good ride on my favorite fat bike, today. It's my lightest fattie, mostly by way of the tires (no studs and very light) and setting the tires up, tubeless (fat bike tubes are monsters.) Zipped off 7 miles of riding on my snow packed trails almost without effort. I find it interesting how it takes me a bit to adapt to the different bike setups as to the way they handle. Fat bikes may look like clunkers, but some of them actually ride very much like warm season, skinner tire trail bikes. These "fast" fat bikes are where the market is going, now, and why so many of us now ride fat bikes all year long, no matter of what the season.

[Crankin]

Still thinking about trying a fat bike, and I will have the chance this week. But, they would need to have one for a very short person. My Norco mountain bike was a small and I really needed an x-small.
Yes, liquid glide wax is the right term! I have a feeling I will be using lots of it on my trip. And I know that feeling of being glued to the snow. When we went to the Methow Valley, WA (the place that has 200k of trails, NOT at elevation and tons of snow), had no snow in 2015, when I finally went. On our last day, it was spitting snow and we went to a nordic center. I actually was getting stuck on a downhill. So frustrating! We had rental skis, so no glide with us.

[north woods gal]

Do give a fat bike a try if you get the chance. Very different riding experience than a standard MTB. Without getting all techy, those big balloon tires make for a very comfy and stable ride. Very confidence inspiring. Makes you feel you can boldly go where no bike has gone before. :)

[ny biker]

Catching up again. I rode my bike on Thursday night after work. It was humid and in the high 60s. It was a slow ride as I am so out of shape. Also I had to stop several times to take off extra layers because I was overdressed. But it was nice to just get out and pedal.

Cold and snowy today but not much accumulation and it will be sunny and above freezing tomorrow. I'm out of town for the holiday weekend and not doing anything exercise related other than stretching. But another warmup is coming in a few days; I am tentatively targeting Tuesday for another night ride.

[north woods gal]

Our long dry weather spell is coming to an end, this week. Should see upwards of six inches of snow and ice by the end of the week, maybe more. Oh, well. Will try to keep the trails cleared, or at least some of them, but won't fight it to the bitter end. I will use the snow for some skiing and some deep snow fat biking. Gotta adapt if you live up, here.

Was musing, this morning, how I've had such a life-long and entirely beneficial relationship with my bicycling. My bicycles have been to me what horses have been to some cultures. If the day ever comes when I stop riding, I'm probably not long for this world. :)

[Crankin]

I rode today. Outside. While I don't really like 73 degrees on February 22, it was a good ride. DH and I did a short 17.6 mile ride across town and back. Too fast on the way out, and more what I expected on the way back.
Only negative thing is that despite being slathered by sun block, the meds I am taking for a sinus infection gave me quite a sunburn, but it's almost all gone. I know it's a chemical reaction, but it's never happened before. Thank God, it was gone before I had to go out, later in the day.

[ny biker]

Ack. Weather forecast fail.

A few days ago the forecast was for warm weather (record-breaking, high 70s and 80 in some spots) for yesterday and today. It also said there would be a chance of rain this evening, so I figured I'd go for a bike ride last night. But then the forecast changed to rain after midnight tonight, and it was windy yesterday which was kicking up the tree pollen, so I decided to do the bike ride tonight. Then when I woke up this morning I found that the forecast changed again, back to rain this evening. I brought all my gear to work just in case the rain fizzled out, but nope. I could wait and go later for a short spin, but the roads will still be wet and it will probably start getting colder now that the front has passed.

So we had two days of May weather in February and I missed out on them. Other than walking to and from my car, I spent no time outside. And now we are expecting rain through the weekend.

Oh well, at least it is not cold enough for snow.

[north woods gal]

We're going to get nailed with some heavy snow, tonight, and then, again, on Saturday. Looks like I'll be doing more shoveling than riding for awhile. Oh, well.

[ny biker]

As I drove home from work last night, the roads were dry. And the wind had finally subsided. No idea what happened to the rain that I clearly saw on the radar a few hours earlier. But it was after 11 pm, too late to start a bike ride.

I am gaining weight and really needed the exercise. :mad:

[north woods gal]

5" of wet, heavy snow overnight and we're forecast to get another 5", tomorrow night. Whoa!

I did ride my snow covered trails as much as my legs would allow, though. As you might suspect, riding any bike, even a fat bike, in 5" of thick wet snow is no picnic. I did it mostly out of curiosity and to also practice handling a bike in that kind of snow and, okay, I can't resist a challenge. :) Been riding all winter and I'm in good shape, but, even so, I only lasted a bit under two miles before my legs went noodles on me. I was actually surprised to even do that.

On a techno note, I give a lot of credit to the expensive, very aggressive fat bike tires that I bought, just for these conditions. Still had fishtailing, but way less than other tires I've tried in deep snow. Also, for the record, with each pass over a section of trail, the snow compresses, more, and the pedaling gets easier.

I did try the XC skis, right off, this morning. Got in a hurry and figured the skis wouldn't need any fresh wax. Wrong! Didn't get thirty yards and the skis iced up, bad. Headed back home and waxed them, which I should have done, right off. Will try, again, tomorrow.

[Crankin]

Did a very short, 13.6 mile ride right after lunch today. I waited until it became cloudy, since I didn't want a repeat of the chemical sunburn reaction from Bactrim again. However, it was 52 and no sun, a bit of wind, so I was covered up! Although I rested Thursday,after my ride Wednesday, I woke up feeling crappy again on Friday; I felt like I was going to keel over in boot camp, but I made it through. So, I was somewhat hesitant about going out today, as I was really congested when I got up. But, I felt better after lunch. Poor DH has been dealing with piriformis issues since the late fall, really when we started doing a lot of hiking. He finally went to the doctor, who put him on a week of Naproxin. He's almost done and it's really not resolving, and he's been stretching, too, so we decided to really go slowly. Funny, how much more pleasant cycling feels when you intentionally do this! We've made a deal to build up really slowly in speed this year. Didn't go anywhere special, just around west Concord and Sudbury, though we did climb up one hill I've rarely done, which has a beautiful farm along both sides of the road, and made me feel like I was back in Vermont.
Although tomorrow is going to be the dreaded wintry mix, it's going to be pretty nice this week. I may ride to work on Monday or Tuesday.

[ny biker]

I ended up doing 45 minutes on the indoor trainer today. I have been having problems with my Rivet Indy saddle and adjusted the tension on it to try to make it more comfortable. I was going to go out and run errands, but decided to ride the bike instead and test the adjustment. It seems to have worked, though I might tighten it a bit more.

I did a music workout on the trainer, big chain ring for one song, small ring for the next, etc.

[north woods gal]

Hope you're feeling better, Crankin. I think its great to ride, sometimes, without any thought other than just riding and enjoying it. Just forget the miles, the average speed and all the other techno things and just ride. Easier said than done with someone like me who tends to be always pushing things, but, now and then, I do go into a cruise mode and take in the scenery and just smile. Works wonders for the soul.

N.Y., love that big chainring/small chainring to match the song. Will try it if and when I ever get around to doing the trainer.

[Crankin]

OK, so I rode 3 times in February, which is 2 more times than I did last year.
I am feeling much better, NWG, but I felt pretty horrible right through Monday night. Probably should not have ridden on Saturday, but...
Today, I had a hair cut and foil appt. at 1 and a dentist appt at 4. Of course, the group ride started close to my house, and had a 23 mile version, since I was not ready to ride 42 miles. I tried to change my hair appt., but couldn't, so I ended up with a pretty good day of riding anyway. I rode to the start of the group ride, 5 miles, and rode with them for about 11-12 miles, then I headed home, for a total of 21 miles. Much more climbing than last week, but the pace was pretty mellow, and a lot of the people had not been riding, so they really fell back on the smallish hills. I felt a bit slow, but my average was pretty much what it always is with this group; not as fast as when I ride with DH, but fine for me. It was 42 when I left my house and 58 when I got home, so I might have been a tad overdressed, but I took off my head cover, which made it pretty good.

[north woods gal]

That's great. Glad you got out for a ride and that's more miles than I've done on one ride, all winter. Good for you.

We've had a lot of melting with temps in the 40s the past several days and some of our local roads have dry pavement in stretches, now. Getting real tempted to pull out the 29 plus Surly Krampus and do some road work before the next big snow comes. The Krampus is no ultralight drop bar road bike, by any means, but it's a speed demon compared to the fat bikes. Really developing a case of spring fever. Itching to do some miles on the open road. Come on, spring:)

[ny biker]

Well I am just itching, literally. :eek: The tree pollen is back already and the predominant species right now is cedar/juniper, which is a major allergen for me. I started using the antihistamine eye drops earlier this month, started with Flonase last week, and thought things were under control.

Last night I went out and rode about 19 miles. It was in the mid-50s and not really humid but not typically winter dry air either. Light winds from the south. Quite comfortable, actually. I had a good ride and was a bit less slow than my previous night ride.

This morning when I woke up both eyes were itching. When I looked in the mirror I saw just how bad it was. Both eyes very red and crusty. Yikes.

Tonight and tomorrow we are expecting high winds (from a nor'easter that I think will be much worse for Crankin than for me). After that it will get colder. Hopefully that will lower the pollen count a bit. But it looks like I need to be more conscious about washing my face, hair and glasses and changing my clothes immediately after a ride, literally as soon as I get off the bike rather than waiting until after I've eaten or driven home or whatever.

[Crankin]

Do you use a saline nasal rinse after riding? I try to remember to do this most of the time.

[ny biker]

Do you use a saline nasal rinse after riding? I try to remember to do this most of the time.

Sometimes. I really didn't think it was that bad while I was riding, in fact I didn't think about pollen at all since I did not feel any allergy symptoms at the time. My eyes are less red today but still itching. I'm wondering if I forgot to use the eye drops before I went to bed after the ride.

I have a ride scheduled on Sunday. It will be colder so I hope the pollen won't be as bad. Though if it is still windy I will cancel because that always makes pollen worse.

It is very windy here today with gusts around 70 mph at times. Fingers crossed, I still have electricity though it went off for a few seconds several times between 7:30 and 9:00. I am trying to work from home -- the federal government is closed but my client is opemn. However I keep losing the remote pc connection so am struggling to be productive. Of course the noisy stompy neighbors are home. If the electricity goes out I will lose the ability to drown them out by blasting the tv.

How are things in Massachusetts? I saw somthing about flooding expected in Boston.

[Crankin]

It's a cold rain. Pouring. The wind is definitely picking up now, probably some gusts in the 40-50 mph range. I worked from 9-12 and was glad I have 2.5 mile drive. The North End and Seaport have some flooding already. Towns along the coast, up through the NH coast, down to the Cape are getting hammered. Most of the south shore towns that aways get hit with flooding and severe damage were told to evacuate. I hope they listen, but often they don't. The National Guard was activated last night. I don't think we will get real flooding where I live, maybe some swollen streams. It is supposed to turn to snow out here, but they really can't predict how much; we are on the edge of the rain/snow line. My 2 favorite x country ski areas are in the 6-12 inches range, but, it's going to be in the 40s over the weekend, so Sunday may be a choice of ski or ride. That does not happen often!

[north woods gal]

Been watching the progress of the storm on the news. Looks like some serious stuff. Hope you guys stay safe and warm.

We rarely get those kinds of wind, here. It would be a disaster if we did with all our shallow rooted trees. Anything above 40 mph and we have a high risk of power outages. Most of out here in the sticks have backup generators, just in case.

[ny biker]

Re: power outages, I am lucky in 2 ways. The power lines are underground here, so if power goes out it means something happened in an adjoining neighborhood, and larger areas of outages are given priority for repairs. The other good thing is the small (1 truck) firehouse around the corner -- things like fire stations and hospitals are top priority in widespread outages.

I just saw an outage map. Most counties around here have 20-30% of customers in the dark. One down in southern Maryland has also 50% without power. It is a sparsely populated county, a nice place for cycling. Meanwhile I see reports of flooding in my hometown, which does not surprise me.

[Crankin]

Yeah, it's a mess from the whole coast, Boston, and a few inner ring suburbs. Lots of power outages. We are sitting in our sunroom, with the shades opened, so we can watch. About 30 minutes ago, we heard a big boom and crash, but we don't see any limbs down. We have small wetlands area behind us, so most likely in there. At first, I thought a branch fell on our neighbor's roof, at the end of the 3 attached townhomes, but, nothing. The gusts seem to be coming less frequently, though still coming.
We have a municipal electric company and if there is a problem, it's fixed pronto. So much better! During Sandy, my power went out for 2 hours, while neighboring towns had days of it. The last town I lived in also had a municipal utility, shared with one other town. That saw us through 10 years of some fierce winter storms, where some of our friends had to go to hotels for a week. A lot of people around here do have generators; I know my friend on the Cape has one, but she also had one in her home here.
It's nice to have a cozy day and evening, but then again, I am not near the really dangerous stuff.

[Crankin]

OK, I found the source of the loud boom and cracking noise. There are 2 trees down in the wetlands, one closer to my condo than the other. Both huge, totally uprooted and on the ground, across the water. You can't see them from my backyard, but when I went to go out for a walk on the path that connects my street to the next neighborhood, there it was.

[emily_in_nc]

It sounds really awful, Crankin. Glad you are safe. Sorry about the big trees, though. We saw so much of that around here from Hurricane Irma, and it was kind of heartbreaking.

[inversion-table]

Glad your safe and ride safely :)

[north woods gal]

Just to let everyone know, I am not trying to rub it in with you folks that are having tough weather. I hope all are safe. Today, for us, though was gorgeous. Highs in the upper 40s, all sunshine and NO wind.

Plan A was to ride the trails. That was a bust. Got about ten yards on the ice and called it quits. The ice was absolutely treacherous. Even the studded tires were slipping. Love my trail riding, but not worth the risk of a bad spill. Went to plan B.

Plan B was heading out on our paved roads for a long ride on the Krampus with its tall 29x3" wheels. Did 26.3 miles, total, all pavement. Longest ride, so far, this spring. Loved it. Our paved roads are all nearly clear of ice, now, with only a scattered patch of ice, here and there, and nothing I couldn't ride around. (Of course, that's only going to last until the next snow storm. :))

No, the Krampus is no speed demon - my average speed wasn't all that great - but those tall, wide wheels do have their advantages. One is that those tall wheels hold their speed better than smaller road bike wheels. That means a LOT less shifting once I get up to speed. Seriously, compared to a standard 700x25 road bike wheel, I reduce the need to shift by about half in the rolling hills I ride. Hard to appreciate if you've never ridden big wheels out on the road for any distance, but it's true.

Another advantage, of course, is comfort. Those big wheels take the bite out of the worst any paved road has to offer and they are oh, so stable. The bike sometimes feels like it's steering, itself.

Another plus is the ability to safely deal with sand and road debris. In fact, I can bounce back and forth from the road to the gravel shoulder anytime I want. That comes in real handy as a safety feature, sometimes.

Still, I do want to have something a little faster and bit more paved road friendly, even though I really don't need such a bike. The Krampus, after all, is a dedicated trail bike, not a road bike. Still, with the easy rolling tires I use on the Krampus, I could ride the Krampus all day long on the roads. Just wouldn't get as far or go as fast.

Hope everyone gets a chance to ride, this coming week. Happy St. Patty's day.

[emily_in_nc]

Hey now, it's March! You might want to copy/paste this excellent post to the March thread, to make sure more folks see it, NWG!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you too. :-)