February rides

[north woods gal]

Well, rather than sink a lot of money into switching the Salsa Fargo into Shimano from SRAM, I just traded it off on, yup, another fat bike, a Norco Bigfoot 2, so it wears the studded fat bike tires. Two problems solved in one move.

Have to say, those big 45NRTH Dillinger 4.8" studded tires are awesome. Rode ten miles, today, mostly on our local snow and ice packed county roads, but also some riding on the lake and even some riding on the back trails. Pretty crazy to be able to stand up and pedal up snow and ice-packed hills, but I can do it with these tires. Single digits for temps while riding, but was plenty warm and got a good workout.

[ny biker]

North Woods, what do you wear on your face in those single digits?

We are on a February roller coaster here, with two days of record-setting temps in the 70s followed by cold wind with white-out snow squalls, then a cold cloudy day. For the weekend it will be warmer than average, in the 60s possibly. No offense to Crankin but I am not sorry that we didn't get the snowstorm yesterday and am equally not sorry that we're not in the crosshairs for another one on Sunday.

My bike has been in the shop for the annual clean-and-tune service this week, and I'll be picking it up tonight. The cherry-red bar tape that I loved was worn and dirty so it's been replaced with a bright light blue. I will test ride on the trainer tonight to see if I can pedal and clip in and out without hurting my ankle.

[Crankin]

I am not offended, NY! Your area does not normally get the type of snow we experience.
Nice bike, Northwoods. I am imagining Northwoods wears a balaclava, or a combo of neck gaiter and fleece cap.
So, we got about a foot of snow yesterday. We did get to our 5:45 am tabata class, as the gym decided to have the class as the snow didn't start until around 7:30. My office was closed, so I stayed inside all day after the class. I wanted to ski through the neighborhood, but I started feeling exhausted and weird, mostly I hope, because I haven't been sleeping well and i have been exercising a lot. The snow is beautiful powder, so I now have the next 3 weekends of nordic skiing. So happy. We are agetting a little snow tonight, about 3 inches, then a bigger storm Sunday into Monday.
This weekend it will be local skiing, up to southern NH tomorrow, meeting our friends who moved. Then Sunday, very local, in the next town, early before all the yahoos from the city get out here. Next weekend, we will be up near Stowe, Vt for the long weekend, and the weekend after that, we are staying at an inn near the the local ski place in southern NH, so we can ski saturday and Sunday there.
After that, it will be March. A lot of years, we are out on the road on March 5th or so, but lately, it's been closer to the 15th or 20th. I could do another weekend of skiing, but after that,I need to get my bike azz in gear. Our trip to Spain is June 26.

[north woods gal]

Yup, a combination of things, depending on just how cold it is. A balaclava with a scarf or neck gaiter does a pretty good job most of the time. When temps get down into the single digits and a bit below zero (yes, I bike in those temps), I also find a neoprene nose/mouth mask to be very helpful, because that's a sensitive part of the face for me. The other part of my face that is very sensitive in extreme cold are my eyes. Then I add a good set of tinted ski goggles. The tinting really helps wear and tear on the eyes on sunny days with the light reflecting off all the snow.

Can't help but think how I must look like a fright with such a setup, but all our neighbors know it's me under all that stuff and wave when they see me. Haven't been racking up a lot of miles, but I am proud to say that I'm biking every day, regardless of the weather, doing 5 to 10 miles a day, now that I have the studded tires. Biking all bundled up, plus the cold, makes for more pedaling effort, but I love it so. It's its own kind of biking. Nothing else like it.

[azfiddle]

I am in awe of those of you who do get out in freezing temperatures. Although I've been commuting regularly to work all year, I just couldn't make myself ride when it was 29 or 30 degrees and dark outside. There were a few days that were 39 and 40 (and probably dipped to 37 in the cold air drainage areas along the Pantano Wash (dry riverbed).

That said, I have made 24 trips between my house and school (22 on work days, and 2 for planning/grading) since Jan 2. It's gotten to the point that I don't want to drive and feel like I'm cheating if I do... I even rode on Thursday when we had parent teacher conferences, and rode home in the dark under the almost full moon. It was lovely- the 3 mile section of the bike path that goes through relatively undisturbed desert between the air force base and the mountain bike park was incredibly quiet and tranquil. I saw 3 people and 5 bunnies along about 7 1/2 miles of pathway. It was even pretty quiet along the suburban neighborhood streets near my school and then there was just a mile from the path to my house.

Thinking about doing a group ride this morning.... or a solo birding ride. I've got an hour to decide.

[north woods gal]

I dig what you're saying about some riding in the dark rides. A lot of my commuting in my Chicago days involved riding in the dark, both ways. Some of those rides were less than fun, of course, but I remember some that were almost other worldly beautiful, too, the kind you hated to end. The commuting by bike really helped restore my spirits after a stressful day at work.

Pretty quiet on the birding, up here, but should start to see some migrants, soon.

[Crankin]

Commuting to or from work in hte dark is one of my favorites. I wish I didn't have such a short commute now.

[azfiddle]

I got in about 40 miles (had the Garmin turned off when I was going slow through parks to look at birds). I saw 57 species today. Highlights were 13 species of ducks, many in spectacular breeding plumage- especially a gorgeous male Wood Duck. 5 species of raptors: Cooper's Hawk, Red-tail, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, and Peregrine Falcon. First swallows of spring- definitely a Rough-winged Swallow and maybe a Tree Swallow. It wasn't a fast ride, but I routed it to take advantage of a fairly strong tail wind for the ride home.

[Helene2013]

My riding consists of ride on the trainer...no choice. I just got back into training mid-Jan after someone on Dec 29th fell on me after slipping on ice (under snow) and I did not see it coming nor able to avoid it and injured my leg just under the knee to the calf. It felt like the knee (not the fractured tibial plateau one from other knee last year) but it truly was the lower leg. Ortho gave me the ok to resume my gym, and listen to how the leg feels. I had hamstring/ calf pain for over 2 weeks from that fall. Now it is all back to normal. Did my ramp test yesterday and it was lower than the last I did before the fractured titial plateau but much more than I had anticipated. Now I can have my PT/trainer plan a real effective program to get me on track to be able to nail that 112km bike ride I signed again for in June.

I've started to run very short periods of time on treadmill...like 20 seconds and walk 40 seconds. The knees needs to adapt again. What a waste of precious time but no choice to get back slowly than re-injure it again.

Our winter is really bad this year. Snow, freezing rain, melting, refreezing...all in a week. I love winter. I'm a winter person. But this winter is the worst I've seen so far. Not able to snowshoe, etc...

[shootingstar]

Best of luck in your recovery. I haven't cycled at all in past 2.5 wks. due to heavy snowfall and deep cold (-25 degrees C) where I am. We'll see in 1 wk., given the melting right now. Just walking outdoors.

[north woods gal]

Sorry to hear about your injury and how it happened, Helene, but you're right, a fall is a fall. Your winter sounds something like ours. As much ice as snow and crazy swings in temperature, with lots of thawing and re-freezing. Our groomed trails are in good shape, thanks to a lot of work on the part of volunteers to keep them in shape, but all my snow work is the back country/wilderness type, so I have to take what comes. Thank heavens for the fat bikes, though. Can always ride them as long as the snowplows are out. Been a very busy fat bike season for me.

[Crankin]

Sorry to hear about your fall, Helene. It sounds like you have a plan, though.

[emily_in_nc]

Ugh, Helene, sorry about your injury -- and your winter! Neither sound good, but recovery (and spring) will come in time.

After four days of not riding due to (first) bad weather and (then) too many projects I got deeply into during the bad weather, I finally got out today. I usually skip riding on the weekends since the best options here in Florida are paved bike paths, which get crazy on weekends and much quieter during the week, but I broke my usual rule and rode today. The weather was just too gawgeous not to. 70s, not too much wind, nor too much humidity, sunshine, birds chirping, and flowers blooming. Half of the county was out on the paths with me, but it wasn't too bad; mostly congested around parks/parking areas and not too bad in between. Managed to achieve my highest average speed since we got here at Thanksgiving, despite all the cyclist and runner "traffic", and just had a great ride overall. Hard to stop smiling in weather like this!

36 miles.

[north woods gal]

Just a meager 12 miles for me, but it was mostly snow packed roads with a little off-road work on some trails. Very windy, though. Some 30 plus mph gusts, but decent temp around freezing. I am ready for some spring weather, though.

[Geonz]

Just a meager 12 miles for me, but it was mostly snow packed roads with a little off-road work on some trails. Very windy, though. Some 30 plus mph gusts, but decent temp around freezing. I am ready for some spring weather, though.

You sandbagger Those aren't meager miles. I got in 7 with the weekend errands... Saturday I did a real "go out and ride" because it was 61 degrees -- but even then all of 11 road miles... my goal is this week (since it's mostly above freezing and no precip in forecast) to start sneaking in the gratuitous miles (this a.m. I added 1.5 miles to commute, and I'll go out for my sanity ride at lunch and try to do 2 laps instead of 1 and ... maybe break a sweat )