Ready For This

The "Orange Crush" as of today.

 The snow came and well......it's going. Fast! We are to have above freezing temperatures everyday for two straight weeks with the end of that spell being in the 40's. This snow won't make it through that. Not for fat biking purposes, at any rate. And where I ride, it isn't good already. 

I erroneously thought we had it made with the first round of snow we got, but the second round wasn't great snow, and with massive drifting, the snow pretty much got broken down into bits. So it doesn't hold together well and it is actually pretty awful for fat biking once the temps get above 10 or so above zero. With all that in mind, I needed to pivot my plans.

There is also something percolating behind the scenes which may- or may not- happen that impacts what I am doing right now. That and the Gents Race in April has made me switch to a mode of thinking that I need to start training now.

I cannot, or more correctly, will not, speak about this 'behind the scenes' thing just yet on the blog. A couple of folks are privy to it, but since things aren't 100% solid and a LOT has to happen to make this chance come true, I feel it is best in everyone's interest to stay put for now concerning that. But be that as it may, IF it happens I need to do what I am doing NOW. 

Besides, now that reviewing stuff is not a pressing need this year, I have time to give to my passion for single speed. I think the first part of 2024 is going to be pretty heavy on the One Gear machines here. That gets me round to the ol' Orange Crush machine, and what I am going to do to kick off the 2024 riding season. 

Snow drifts from last week's storms in Mahaska County. (Image courtesy of KCCI social media)

First off, I wanted to use the Orange Crush because it has fenders and I have an extra wheel set for it that I could set up with some 45NRTH Gravdal studded tires. This might come in handy with what I suspect will be some freeze-thaw icing that will certainly occur with all this snow melting over the next two weeks. 

Secondly, those same fenders and the single speed drive train will be awesome for some January/February country "drift searching", which I hope to do soon. I've heard reports of 15ft - 18ft drifts in Iowa and I haven't seen any "big ones" in several years, so I will be searching for some nice big drifts soon. Probably North of Waterloo, because traditionally that is where I've seen the biggest ones in the past around here. 

Of course, I hope to be getting out as soon as possible, but I will be, and have been, doing urban commuting and riding already. In fact, I cannot wait for this snow to clear out as I have had four crashes in the last week and one a pretty hard knock on pavement. I don't want to continue that trend!