The Oasis

Concrete jungle

Wednesday I went for a morning ride to test out a theory I had regarding the Larry 3.8" vs the Big Fat Larry. I was wondering if I would have made more progress through some deep, granular snow on the BFL's than I had on the smaller 3.8"ers.

I also was wondering how the inertia of the heavier wheels might affect all of this. The overall weight of the two bikes might also come into play as well.

So I left to go ride a couple of stretches I had ridden earlier this week where the snow had not been plowed. Temperatures were similar for each day, but there had been some warmer weather where the snow may have firmed up some over what I had originally experienced. As I reached the unplowed sections, I had high hopes that the Big Fat Larrys would float up a bit better, despite the bike weighing more.

I found out that even though I had bigger tires and that the snow was maybe better, I didn't see any real advantage. In fact, it may have been a disadvantage really. I think a couple of things were working against me on The Snow Dog.

Big ruts!

Those Big Fat Larrys push more of a "wake" than the skinnier tires do, so I was working harder when the tires did sink in. Secondly: Those big tires didn't float up like I thought they might, so I was fighting the higher resistance to the wheels more with the wider tires. Part of this was due to the heavier wheels/bike overall.

By-Tor the Titanium Mukluk has much lighter wheels, tires, and tubes which gave it a big advantage in the inertia department, as far as overcoming wheel weight. I also found that the skinnier tires seemed to deal with the snow in a similar manner to the BFL's, but since the weight of the front end was so much less, the titanium Mukluk would float over stuff better, leaving the rear to dig down and get traction.

Either way, the rides were both exhausting exercises. I had to go at a high torque, low speed setting and my legs and body were working hard to keep either bike going straight and moving forward. I think things were a bit more successful on the titanium rig, but that's splitting hairs. Dealing with ruts on The Snow Dog made life harder, which I didn't have to do with By-Tor.

Rest stop at The Oasis

The Wednesday ride saw me taking a break underneath a bridge for Highway 218. The bike path goes underneath here and on either side the snow was very deep. Both bikes were grinding in the snow near here, and my body was working way too hard to keep it going, but I was having fun seeing what I could ride over.

I stuck around a while to cool down, took some images, and then lumbered home with legs that were shaking when I got home from all the hard work. It was fun to figure out which worked best for what, and technique was honed as well.

Obviously, Big Fat Larrys are better suited to situations where trail/snow has been packed down some and skinnier tires are punching through a bit. I would probably find that on snowmobile trails, but the snomo folks must be sticking around to the country, because I can not find a snomo track in town yet to save my life. Guess I'm going to have to head over to Mitchell Sand Pits next, if there is any snow left this weekend!