November Rides

[north woods gal]

Congrats, Emily. Now get out and go celebrate!

Did 8 miles of laps on our trails, today. Still some ice in places, some slick areas of frozen ground and, of course, some snowy patches. The safe bet would have been a fat bike, but I was in the mood for something easier rolling, so took a chance and rode the Krampus, instead. The 29x3 Krampus is setup with Surly Knard tires which are anything but aggressive snow or dirt tires. Figured I'd be pushing it and I was right. Good test, though, of what the plus format could do and good practice for me on how to safely ride under challenging conditions. Had one section, couple hundred yards long, that was frozen hard slush. Pretty dicey with the skinny tires, but I managed. Some rear tire fishtailing and rear tire swinging out on tight turns, too, so had to really concentrate on keeping it all in the vertical. Overall, though, very pleased. No crashes. Says a lot for the plus format. I now have a better idea what it can do in a pinch. Such a sweet ride, too. Love the Krampus.

More sleet/snow, tonight, so back to the fatties, tomorrow.

[Crankin]

Today we are having an early Thanksgiving dinner with my son and family who lives here, so we got out for a short ride around 11. It was about 38, partly cloudy, with no wind. It's going to rain overnight and be quite windy tomorrow, so despite it being close to 60 as predicted, I think I will go to spin early AM.
We did 16 miles over to the other side of town, avoiding shoppers and tourists as much as we could. I've got the right combo of clothing down for the temperature it was today, which I think would be good down to 30. I did use my heated gloves for the first time this year; I have regular ones that would be OK for this temp., but they feel tight and it's hard to shift. I think they may be smalls, as I bought them before I realized I actually have very long fingers and hence, need a medium sized woman's glove. I also did not use a balaclava as DH did, and it was smart. I'd rather have a cold face for a bit, because once I heat up, that cool feeling is key to keeping me from sweating to death.
It's going to be warmer on Tuesday AM, so I may go out for an early AM ride then, too, before we head to FT Benning to have Thanksgiving with my other son.

[rebeccaC]

Just commuting and my normal urban riding since the tour de pink, which was physically and emotionally a very satisfying three days of riding. We visited friends in Palm Springs this past weekend and rode to Joshua Tree N.P., riding into the southern entrance and riding to the northern entrance where are friends met us to drive back. Felt good to get a long ride in again after three weeks of being content with spending weekends doing other things, plus JT is one of my favorite places to ride!! Perfect day of weather, riding and being together.

[emily_in_nc]

Absolutely gorgeous pics, Rebecca! SO clear.

I'm glad to hear that the Tour de Pink was such a positive experience for you!

[north woods gal]

OMG, Wow! (as usual) on the pics, rebecca. Just seeing them makes me feel warmer and I can sure use some of that, today. 30 mph north winds and highs only in the low 20s.

No snow on the trails, today, but what we did have, earlier, melted then froze into long sections of very slick ice. Trails are about 40% dirt and 60% ice, now. Even the fat bikes with standard snow tires were slipping out on the steep climbs and some fishtailing on the turns. Spooky stuff. Had to head back to the house and get one of the fats setup with studded tires. That did the trick, bit still had to be very careful. Little odd to need studded tires when no snow on either side of the trails, but when I need them, I need them. In the good old pre-fat bike days, I'd have been out of business.

[rebeccaC]

@ Sheila….

Thanks Emily, now the tdp is one of my top favorite ‘needed to do’s’! ...and with more to be ridden! The way you’ve integrated bicycling into your lifestyle always makes me smile and the 3000 miles is another reason I just 'ed

…..thinking no training plan means a shift to casual urban riding combined with more work/travel time for me for awhile…..well, this is a good time of year for riding in the desert so at least another one.

you’re making me want to sit in a comfy chair with a book and a fire nwg.

[north woods gal]

Took a spill, yesterday, on the trail, thanks to a patch of weird ice on a turn. Rear tire on the fat bike flew out from under me, so landed on my back and got a sore left shoulder blade area for my troubles. My head skidded a bit on the frozen ground, but the helmet took that out of the injury equation. All in all, pretty minor spill as spills go and I do expect it, now and then, for my kind of riding. Goes with the territory.

Could have been avoided, though. Our snow cover is mostly gone, even on our trails, so rather than grab one of the fat bikes with studded tires and have to give up speed and handling that goes with those rigs, decided, instead, to go with a faster Norco fat bike with ordinary snow/dirt tires, no studs. The problem is that the thawing/freezing cycles we've been having is creating glare ice out out of the wet mud sections. Yep, just when I thought I'd seen it all, we now have not only black ice, but now we have black ice mud to deal with. Yup, looks just like ordinary frozen mud, but it is slick as snot from all the riding I've done on it.

The good news is that I went back to the house and exchanged that Norco with another Norco fat bike with studded tires and kept on riding. That took care of the problem and could turn and climb even on the black ice mud sections. Honestly, my trails, right now, are not safe to ride without studs. Crazy to think I would need studded tires to ride on what appears to be just an ordinary section of frozen dirt trails, but there you go. Who knew?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!