Ribbon Cutting

On Monday we saw our first snowfall of the year in the land of Edges and Combs. It was a nice fluffy 4" on top of a pretty solid base so I thought that I'd give it a go in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Temps were perfect for a winter ride, in the mid 20's, I had all of my shit together and I was PSYCHED! Like seriously psyched because I absolutely love cutting fresh tracks when the conditions are ideal and I thought Tuesday would be such a day. Sadly, I was wrong. The primary reason for my wrongness was I failed to consider that the 2-3" of dry leaves on the ground under the snow would make traction a near impossibility since my tires cut nicely through the snow right down to the multi layered leaves which provide about as much traction as a greased up pig, only less fun.

This is what most cornering attempts looked like...

There were times (say in a couple of pine forest areas) where the riding was pretty good (see top photo) and times when it was downright depressing (see above photo) but I rolled with it and headed for a venue that would allow for as little climbing and turning as possible, a preserve down the road that has a nice, long old road.  It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but it would have to do.

not bad

The worst part of the ride was a few wet crossings that would leave my tires looking like they were made of styrofoam.  A little slush plus powdery snow left me with impressively smooth (and heavy tires).

figure A

figure B

The conditions really had me lamenting not having pre-ordered Salsa's new snow bike the Mukluk.

It's the perfect steed for my winter shenanigans and a snow bike has been on my wish list for about 5 years now but, sadly, all of the larges that Bikeman was able to snag have already been sold and we really don't have the cash right now to get one anyway.  A boy can dream though...