February Groundhog rides

[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.