February rides

[north woods gal]

Plus, one, AZ. The only practical way for me to rack up those kinds of miles, right now, and do it safely, is indoors on the trainer. Yuk! Love my snow biking, but this time of year I'm dreaming of those good times to come when the snow is gone and I have hundreds of miles of nice dry open road to explore. Definitely cabin fever time for me.

[north woods gal]

Good news and good day for me. My bruising has subsided to the point where I can ride, comfortably, again, without aggravating anything. Did two miles of heavy duty plowing and pedaling though deep crusty snow out on the lake (whew!), then added another easier pedaling mile, riding the shoulder of our snowy neighborhood roads, being very careful to stay off the well traveled and slick portion of the snow pack. Still need to mount the studded tires on one of the fat bikes, but can't decide which one gets the studded. Kind of OCD, maybe, but hate changing out tires on the other bikes because each kind of tire and tread has its place for various types of winter riding I do. That, and I hate doing the switch out tires thing.

[north woods gal]

Well, rather than sink a lot of money into switching the Salsa Fargo into Shimano from SRAM, I just traded it off on, yup, another fat bike, a Norco Bigfoot 2, so it wears the studded fat bike tires. Two problems solved in one move.

Have to say, those big 45NRTH Dillinger 4.8" studded tires are awesome. Rode ten miles, today, mostly on our local snow and ice packed county roads, but also some riding on the lake and even some riding on the back trails. Pretty crazy to be able to stand up and pedal up snow and ice-packed hills, but I can do it with these tires. Single digits for temps while riding, but was plenty warm and got a good workout.

[ny biker]

North Woods, what do you wear on your face in those single digits?

We are on a February roller coaster here, with two days of record-setting temps in the 70s followed by cold wind with white-out snow squalls, then a cold cloudy day. For the weekend it will be warmer than average, in the 60s possibly. No offense to Crankin but I am not sorry that we didn't get the snowstorm yesterday and am equally not sorry that we're not in the crosshairs for another one on Sunday.

My bike has been in the shop for the annual clean-and-tune service this week, and I'll be picking it up tonight. The cherry-red bar tape that I loved was worn and dirty so it's been replaced with a bright light blue. I will test ride on the trainer tonight to see if I can pedal and clip in and out without hurting my ankle.

[Crankin]

I am not offended, NY! Your area does not normally get the type of snow we experience.
Nice bike, Northwoods. I am imagining Northwoods wears a balaclava, or a combo of neck gaiter and fleece cap.
So, we got about a foot of snow yesterday. We did get to our 5:45 am tabata class, as the gym decided to have the class as the snow didn't start until around 7:30. My office was closed, so I stayed inside all day after the class. I wanted to ski through the neighborhood, but I started feeling exhausted and weird, mostly I hope, because I haven't been sleeping well and i have been exercising a lot. The snow is beautiful powder, so I now have the next 3 weekends of nordic skiing. So happy. We are agetting a little snow tonight, about 3 inches, then a bigger storm Sunday into Monday.
This weekend it will be local skiing, up to southern NH tomorrow, meeting our friends who moved. Then Sunday, very local, in the next town, early before all the yahoos from the city get out here. Next weekend, we will be up near Stowe, Vt for the long weekend, and the weekend after that, we are staying at an inn near the the local ski place in southern NH, so we can ski saturday and Sunday there.
After that, it will be March. A lot of years, we are out on the road on March 5th or so, but lately, it's been closer to the 15th or 20th. I could do another weekend of skiing, but after that,I need to get my bike azz in gear. Our trip to Spain is June 26.

[north woods gal]

Yup, a combination of things, depending on just how cold it is. A balaclava with a scarf or neck gaiter does a pretty good job most of the time. When temps get down into the single digits and a bit below zero (yes, I bike in those temps), I also find a neoprene nose/mouth mask to be very helpful, because that's a sensitive part of the face for me. The other part of my face that is very sensitive in extreme cold are my eyes. Then I add a good set of tinted ski goggles. The tinting really helps wear and tear on the eyes on sunny days with the light reflecting off all the snow.

Can't help but think how I must look like a fright with such a setup, but all our neighbors know it's me under all that stuff and wave when they see me. Haven't been racking up a lot of miles, but I am proud to say that I'm biking every day, regardless of the weather, doing 5 to 10 miles a day, now that I have the studded tires. Biking all bundled up, plus the cold, makes for more pedaling effort, but I love it so. It's its own kind of biking. Nothing else like it.

[azfiddle]

I am in awe of those of you who do get out in freezing temperatures. Although I've been commuting regularly to work all year, I just couldn't make myself ride when it was 29 or 30 degrees and dark outside. There were a few days that were 39 and 40 (and probably dipped to 37 in the cold air drainage areas along the Pantano Wash (dry riverbed).

That said, I have made 24 trips between my house and school (22 on work days, and 2 for planning/grading) since Jan 2. It's gotten to the point that I don't want to drive and feel like I'm cheating if I do... I even rode on Thursday when we had parent teacher conferences, and rode home in the dark under the almost full moon. It was lovely- the 3 mile section of the bike path that goes through relatively undisturbed desert between the air force base and the mountain bike park was incredibly quiet and tranquil. I saw 3 people and 5 bunnies along about 7 1/2 miles of pathway. It was even pretty quiet along the suburban neighborhood streets near my school and then there was just a mile from the path to my house.

Thinking about doing a group ride this morning.... or a solo birding ride. I've got an hour to decide.