November Rides

[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!

[Crankin]

You, too, Northwoods. No riding for me today. I am in Columbus, GA, visiting my son. We did take a 2-3 mile walk and took our granddaughter to the park.

[ny biker]

So glad the tdp was a good experience for you, Rebecca.

I've been in NY since early Saturday morning. I did get a ride in after work last Wednesday night. I was overdressed again. The two previous nights I was cold when I left work, and I dressed for that only to find it was warmer and more humid than expected. Nonetheless it was a good ride. The new shoes and pedals seem okay, for short rides at least.

I drove up to NY after work on Friday (after working until 10 pm). My siblings from the west coast are here, celebrating my mother's birthday in addition to the holiday. We saw a show on Broadway (Beautiful, the Carole King musical), have gone out to dinner several times, and are having a big birthday dinner on Saturday. Lots of food, zero exercise. In all I will be here for 10 days, covering two weekends.

I'm hoping for good riding weather when I get back, for short rides at least.

[north woods gal]

Nice thaw, yesterday, with temps up into the 50s. Whoo hoo! Of course, the trails turned a little muddy.

Before


On sponge bath, 5 minutes, later


Back to below freezing for a high, today, so should be able to keep things a bit cleaner.

[azfiddle]

Hi everyone.... been riding almost every day in November but just haven't been posting. I've been commuting 4-5 days a week and was riding some long rides to prep for El Tour de Tucson last weekend. I rode the whole 106 miles, raised money for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). There was a pretty steep minimum commitment ($750 for a "day rider"). But boy did they take care of us. Three dinners at a posh hotel/resort. My husband and I paid for a one night stay. They transported the bikes and set them up near the start, then drove us to and from the start/finish. Great aid stations which were only for JDRF riders. And really, we got a much better understanding of how tough it is to live with Type 1 diabetes, and how the money raised by the JDRF rides has helped bring new advances that are helping people right now. We were glad to be part of it- I joined the ride in support of a co-worker's son who was diagnosed 2 years at age 5. Tough stuff- he's a little hero though!

[azfiddle]

I've done a couple short rides this week, chasing a Couch's Kingbird which was way out of range in Arizona, and then today did a 40 mile ride to look for a Least Grebe, also way out of range. I saw the kingbird on Thursday on the third try- the grebe was easy- just a longer ride and a half mile walk to the pond.