November rides: bringing in the chill

[north woods gal]

Hope it works out for you, Crankin. Our weather continues to be cold, but at least we've had a little sunshine. That does help my mood, at least.

13 miles, today, all on the fat bikes, including 10 miles of riding on our snow packed roads and anther 3 on my equally snowy trails. To be safe, did the roads on the fat bike with studded tires, since the snow is packed down very tight due to a couple of days of traffic. Probably would have been fine without the studded tires, but just felt better to be safe than sorry. You know, even after all these years of riding on snowy roads, I have to winder what people think when they see my pedaling on by. Our neighbors that know us think it's pretty cool for me to be out riding, no matter what, but I'm sure some strangers think I'm a little nutty. Oh, well.

I did the trails on the Pugs, after I got back from my road ride. Was nice to ditch the studded tires for the smoother rolling tires on the Pugs, plus the Pugs is a single speed, now. Hard to explain why I prefer going single speed, but I just do.

[Crankin]

We had about 4 inches of snow from about 8 PM last night to about 2 AM. It turned to rain, but when I woke up at 4:30, I couldn't face going out to clean off my car (the down side of living in our condo). I don't even know if my class at the gym was actually held at 5:30, but since I have felt kind of off since Wednesday, I decided to sleep in. I plan on lounging around all morning, the perk of working part time, and then going to a yoga class, where I will be among the youngest in the room! Then, off to buy food for Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow's forecast is predicted to be 49 and bright sun, so I hope the roads are ok. They are already fully plowed, but I am hoping the rain washes away any slush or salt in the shoulder.

[north woods gal]

Good to hear the storm's effect won't be around long. Yeah, that road salt was a real headache for me back in my Chicago winter commuting days. Had to clean off my bike every night when I got home from work. Fortunately, our little rural township, here, only uses gravel and sand. That I can handle.

Had a fun day, yesterday, after getting back from doing errands in town. Decided to hit my snow packed trails with my other bikes, instead of the fat bikes. After all, before there were fat bikes or even plus bikes, I was riding in the snow on regular mountain bikes. Did 4 miles on the Krampus with its 29x3" tires, then another 4 with the Log Lady and its 27.5x 2.25" tires. Both did great on my snow packed trails. No slipping at all, though I was extra careful with the Log Lady not to get to extreme with my speed, though that's always a temptation with this fast bike. Riding these single speeds once again showed me that going single speed is doable in some types of snow. Won't put these bikes, away, for the winter.

A skiff of snow, overnight, so will probably pull out one of the fat bikes and get to work on re-packing my trails.

[Crankin]

Eh, the rain has not melted much so far and it's too cool out for a big melt, with no sun. It's going to be melting puddles tomorrow, and I won't ride either of my road bikes in that! If I take the Ariel out, I'd have to convince DH to ride his Guru or we would end up snow hiking. A lot of the x country ski areas up north have opened for the weekend, but too far for a day trip.

[north woods gal]

Half inch of snow, overnight. Not enough to make the trails slippery, but rode the Norco fat bike just to be safe. The big 4.8" wheels did a nice job of re-packing the fresh snow for me and the Norco Sasquatch is a great bike to ride, anyway. No sunshine, though. Back to gloomy and cold and a very damp cold at that. Just hard to keep my spirits up on these gloomy days. Oh, well. Long, long winter ahead of me.

[bikeranna]

I could never do a ride in november.