December rides...

[north woods gal]

I chose skiing, today, too. Had to re-wax for the slushy snow, but well worth the trouble. Almost too much glide, though. Lost control on some of the steep downhills and had to bail, so it took a few tries to get down them clean and stay on the trail. Have an odd ice/sleet/rain storm headed our way, so no telling what I'll do for the next couple of days. May have to play it safe and ride indoors on the trainer.

[azfiddle]

Emily, I'm still getting the road rides. More home renovation work is going to cut in to my vacation ride times though... tiling a room and probably taking out the popcorn ceiling too. Fortunately we have a friend who knows how to do all this stuff and we'll just be assisting.

So I'm pretty sure I'll get in some rides- but not as many as usual. The next couple of days are going to be in the low 30's early in the day but warm up in the afternoons to the 60's and low 70's.

[Crankin]

I neither rode nor skied. There was too much of a chance of black ice for a ride, with shady roads and black ice in the morning and really not enough time to go ski and be back for our friends' arrival. So, we opted for a 3 mile hike, where it was totally devoid of others, although there were 2 other cars at the trailhead. We will be hiking again today, with our friends, but probably longer and harder.

[emily_in_nc]

Glad you're still getting to ride, az! I understand about the home renos, as we are doing quite a lot of projects in our motorhome (painting, etc.) right now, when we aren't riding. Those overnight lows in Tucson are too chilly for me, though!

Had a very nice 35+ mile ride today with temps in the 70s. LOTS of folks out on the trail as so many have work/school off this week. I am looking forward to next week when things are back to normal and it's just us old farts out during the week, for the most part.

[north woods gal]

We had an ice storm, overnight, and all the snow is covered with ice. Tried skiing, but WAY too icy, so gave up, quick and headed back to the house. Next thing I know, hubby is backing the car down the driveway (a slight incline) and the car slides down the ice and backs up against a tree, breaking a tail light. That convinced me that maybe taking the fat bike out on the road might not be such a good idea.

[emily_in_nc]

Eeek, sorry, NWG! Ice is the worst. I remember sliding backwards down our little rural unpaved road when we lived in NC and thinking "Hmm, I don't think I am going to be going to work today!" Do be careful.

Today I had a rare solo ride as DH wanted to lift instead. I found that being solo relieved me of any pressure to maintain a certain pace; and without pressure, I was actually faster than usual, go figure!

I did take a long break at a park to do some bird watching, and another at a fence to look at some cattle with HUGE pointed horns. I will post photos a little later once I get them uploaded from my camera.

A warm and humid day, but light winds, and it was just great to be out there. A bit over 32 miles total.

[north woods gal]

Sounds like a great ride, Emily. Been awhile, now, since I've been able to any distance road work. Sigh!

I did get a little daring, though, and decided to ride the fat bike on our ice covered, snow-packed roads, anyway, mostly to give the dogs a bit of a run. Got to love those fat bikes. Amazingly, the dogs were even slipping on the ice, at times. but not me on the fat bike. Even went off road down our lake access trail, riding on top of an ice covered snowmobile track left by one of the neighbors, prior to the ice storm. Only did three miles, but that's three miles that would have been tricky even to walk. Go fat bikes!

[north woods gal]

To be sure, Iowa is a lovely state. Not all corn fields by any means. Have some family that lives, there.

[emily_in_nc]

Here are a couple of photos from my solo ride yesterday. Added the beautiful Purple Gallinule to my birding life list. And the cattle were just incredible, and kinda bizarre. From googling, I think they are Ankole-Watusi, a breed native to Africa. Wowza!




Got in another 33 today on the trail. Another beautiful day! NWG, getting in even three miles in the conditions you're dealing with is impressive. Glad you didn't take any tumbles!

[rebeccaC]

But there sure are a lot of dang cornfields.

“Waist high by the 4th of July”
Thinking they are also needed on a hot ragbrai days ride when you need to drink lots of water……well, at least for me and the group of women I rode with. .....One of my favorite states to have ridden in and across.

Taking all day tomorrow to ride to Mt Ventoux with Alex, an uncle and a friend from here. My mother and a couple of others will ride with us for a shorter ride on the beautiful roads to Sault too. The San Gabriel rides before we left home were good preparation. Feeling blessed to be here with family and friends…

[Crankin]

I rode the roads around Sault on my last bike trip to Europe. It was my favorite part of the trip. While some climbed Ventoux, we did a climb that went up to the cherry orchards. Most of the people who did not do Vetoux elected to stay at the café, drinking coffee, or turned around after a shorter distance. When we got to the top, DH ate a couple of cherries off of a tree. The farmer came running out, screaming at him, in French. Thankfully, one of the leaders was with us and spoke to the man and calmed him down. It was a gorgeous climb and descent and I was not sorry I didn't attempt Ventoux.

[north woods gal]

Emily, great pics. Always neat to add a bird to your life list. Saw our Northern Shrike, again and also had a visit from a Brown Creeper. Have had Goldfinches, now and then, but, so far, no Pine Siskins. Usually get those every winter. Some winter we get invaded by Common Redpolls, other winters, never see a one. Nothing, so far, this winter. Other wise, tons of Chickadees and Nuthatches (both White-breasted and Red-breasted) and lots of Woodpeckers, including our favorite, the big Pileated.



Our snow is so iced over and crusted that skiing is impossible, so donned the backcountry snowshoes and worked on widening and packing my trails in the hopes that I might be able to run the fat bikes on them, tomorrow. Wow! Been awhile since I've done any snowshoe work. Gonna feel it in the morning.

[emily_in_nc]

I adore Pileated Woodpeckers. We used to have them nesting in our woodland property in central NC.

[north woods gal]

They are a real treat, for sure. Now and then, one will come in to our suet feeder. They really dwarf the feeder, they're so big.

Thought maybe I could do the fat bike on my ski trails, since I've been packing them down so much with the snowshoes, but no go. The fatty just breaks through the crust and down into the soft stuff, unpredictably, with total loss of control. Went down a couple of times and gave up on the trail riding. Made up for it with 5 miles on our icy roads, though. Hey, I'm still biking late in December and loving it. Even had some snow falling as I rode.

[north woods gal]

Great news! The ice highway is open.

That's what we call our lakes when the ice is strong enough to actually support travel and, in fact, some locals actually do drive their cars across the ice to take shortcuts. Not me, but I will ride my fat bike. Did four laps round our 77 acre lake for about three miles of ice riding on the big Salsa and added another half mile of access trail riding to get to the ice.

Most of the ice out in the middle of the lake stays free of snow cover or has just a thin crust, thanks to the wind. Believe it or not, the fat bike can handle this super slick ice that is actually too slick for safe walking. Just have to be careful to make very wide turns and find some snow covered ice when you stop or start for the sake of traction. Compared to skiing or walking, though, you can really cover the miles on the fat bike. December 30th and my fat bike riding is just getting warmed up. Go fat bike!