Adventure Ride: Frozen Version

The streets of Waterloo were quiet Saturday morning.

N.Y. Roll had proposed a ride to recon a "dive bar" ride he was planning and asked if I was interested in coming along. Now it was forecast to be in the 20's Saturday morning when we were to leave, but there was supposed to be little wind. I agreed to go, hoping against hope we would be warm enough to make the jaunt enjoyable. That added with the snow melt, which was sure to be hardened ice Saturday, made bike choice critical.

I thought about throwing on the 45NRTH Gravdal studded tires, or maybe taking the Fargo with a wider mtb tire mounted, but then I remembered that I had to get to riding those WTB Venture 650B X 47mm tires I am reviewing. That would probably work, so I looked over the Black Mountain Cycles MCD- otherwise known here as The Bubblegum Princess- and went to sleep Friday with the alarm set to be ready to ride by 8:00am.

Of course, I was up and ready roll by 7:00am! I was fiddling around and thought I should text N.Y. Roll when I heard my phone ping. Wow! Telepathy is a thing, apparently! Anyway, I told him I was ready anytime he was, so he moved up the start time to 7:30am and when he arrived at the house here, we took off.

Early navigational issues. Apparently GPS units don't like the cold.

As we slow rolled through downtown Waterloo, I felt the bite of the crisp air on my ears and cheeks. Good thing I decided to swap out to Winter gloves! It was 27° and when we were moving, it was chilly! At least the downtown streets were clear of run-off ice, so we had no problems moving along.

N.Y. Roll's route connected several "dive bars" in the area. Basically these are run down buildings which house neighborhood bars that have been in existence for years. The first was near a famous restaurant in Waterloo called the DK Hickory House. It is a rib joint, but if you ever saw the exterior, you'd not believe it was a restaurant, first off, and you'd likely have a harder time believing it was once a famous place where many celebrities of the past would come to eat. Anyway, the "Park Road Inn" was right across the street from this joint and once we got un-turned around with directions, we found it and we were off to find the next "dive bar".

The next section of riding basically was taking us East through the Northern edge of Waterloo. Apparently the next bar was in Raymond and it would be several miles before we got there on paved roads. These residential streets N.Y. Roll chose to get us there were sometimes a bit sketchy with run-off ice, especially in the corners, so I was taking great care so as not to go down hard and screw myself up.

Looking back at Waterloo, we saw this flooded field with hundreds of Canadian geese. 

Anywhere near the Cedar River was flooded. Recent run-off has swollen many Mid-West creeks and rivers beyond capacity.

Once we broke free from the city proper we were greeted with the rising Sun in our faces and warming air. Well.......slight warming of air, really. It was still pretty chill and my sock choice was not on point. My tootsies were frozen by this time into the ride, but I pedaled onward despite that. The road was lined with frozen flood waters from the run-off of snow melt. These are typical areas to see flooding happen, so we weren't getting the disastrous floods like they are in Nebraska. Still, it was impressive to see just how much water was covering the flood plains.

N.Y. Roll enjoys the morning Sun as we ride the frozen shoulder coming into Raymond.

Eventually we were obliged to turn onto a fairly well used County road. Fortunately the pea graveled shoulder was smooth and frozen. It was as easy to ride as pavement. This took us into Raymond eventually and our next "dive bar" location was identified. Then it was straight on to the South to Gilbertville and the next bar location.

We stayed on the shoulder, only here it was on a strip about a foot, maybe slightly wider, of paved road on the right side of the "white line". Cars were giving us a full lane as they passed and we did not experience any close calls except for one where three cars met going opposite directions right as they passed by us. So we were all within close proximity of each other there, but no harm- no foul.

The Cedar River bridge at Gilbertville.

The first stretch of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail we tried wasn't too bad.

We made it through Gilbertville okay, but then N.Y. Roll wanted to go "off-route" and recon the CVNT (Cedar Valley Nature Trail). I figured it would be a complete waste of our time, but hey! This was an adventure ride, so...... The trail didn't look awful after we passed the depot, where it was mostly iced up due to pedestrians. We started out and N.Y. Roll promised me that if it got too bad we'd bail out at a gravel road intersection ahead.

Out on gravel! (Well......mostly dirt!) The frozen ruts were......interesting.

The trail conditions quickly deteriorated into a hard coat of frozen snow and glare ice from snowmobile traffic. I hen-pecked my way along while N.Y. Roll walked away from me with his wider, more voluminous mtb tire set up. We finally reached the promised gravel road turn off and made our way Northwestward, more or less, keeping to the CVNT as much as possible. After a few miles of gravel we were obliged to hop back on the CVNT and it was wild! The snow was much deeper here and frozen with soaked in rain which we had fall on the area earlier in the week.

If you look closely you can make out the herd of deer we saw.

Hike-a-bike for me, but N.Y. Roll cleaned most of this on his 2.25"ers.

The snow was rideable at times for me. I was amazed at how I could claw my way through at times. But there just wasn't enough "float" with 47mm of tire and N.Y. Roll walked away from me on his 29 X 2.25"s. At one point my front tire punched through a drift up to the hub! That was funny. I ended up walking a fair amount of this section.

A guy then rolled up on me riding an ancient Honda three wheeled ATV. He was amiable, and smiled at me as he started up a conversation with me. Apparently he had tried to keep this part of the trail clear with a truck and plow, but the blizzard a few weeks ago was just too much for him and his truck. He also stated that he had been busy fighting flood waters on his property and was out this morning to check on the angry Cedar River, to see if there were any ice jams.

Eventually we ended up on the bridge over the Cedar. All three of us peered at the turbulent waters rushing by. Finally the nice man bid us farewell and we turned our eyes toward Evansdale and the next "dive bar". We didn't have far to go, and once we found it, the next came fairly soon after. That was our cue to hit the recreational trail out of Evansdale toward Waterloo.

It may look peaceful, but it was anything but. The Cedar was forcast to crest later in the day Saturday.

Headed out of Evansdale on the recreational bike trail to Waterloo.

N.Y. Roll made a suggestion to stop at Rockets Bakery in downtown Waterloo for coffee. I was excited to do that, and when we got there we were greeted by a young lady behind the counter that thought it was funny that I was riding a pink bike while N.Y. Roll was wearing a pink helmet. I suppose that did look odd. Anyway, the coffee was excellent, and my stool, which had been sitting in the Sunshine, felt like a heated car seat after all that chilly riding. That made me think- are there any heated bicycle saddles? 

Coffee slurped, we remounted and headed back home. An excellent morning on the bike! I hit pavement, gravel, dirt, snow, and ice, all on the same ride. That's what I call "multi-terrain" riding, right there!

Adventure Ride: Frozen Version

The streets of Waterloo were quiet Saturday morning.

N.Y. Roll had proposed a ride to recon a "dive bar" ride he was planning and asked if I was interested in coming along. Now it was forecast to be in the 20's Saturday morning when we were to leave, but there was supposed to be little wind. I agreed to go, hoping against hope we would be warm enough to make the jaunt enjoyable. That added with the snow melt, which was sure to be hardened ice Saturday, made bike choice critical.

I thought about throwing on the 45NRTH Gravdal studded tires, or maybe taking the Fargo with a wider mtb tire mounted, but then I remembered that I had to get to riding those WTB Venture 650B X 47mm tires I am reviewing. That would probably work, so I looked over the Black Mountain Cycles MCD- otherwise known here as The Bubblegum Princess- and went to sleep Friday with the alarm set to be ready to ride by 8:00am.

Of course, I was up and ready roll by 7:00am! I was fiddling around and thought I should text N.Y. Roll when I heard my phone ping. Wow! Telepathy is a thing, apparently! Anyway, I told him I was ready anytime he was, so he moved up the start time to 7:30am and when he arrived at the house here, we took off.

Early navigational issues. Apparently GPS units don't like the cold.

As we slow rolled through downtown Waterloo, I felt the bite of the crisp air on my ears and cheeks. Good thing I decided to swap out to Winter gloves! It was 27° and when we were moving, it was chilly! At least the downtown streets were clear of run-off ice, so we had no problems moving along.

N.Y. Roll's route connected several "dive bars" in the area. Basically these are run down buildings which house neighborhood bars that have been in existence for years. The first was near a famous restaurant in Waterloo called the DK Hickory House. It is a rib joint, but if you ever saw the exterior, you'd not believe it was a restaurant, first off, and you'd likely have a harder time believing it was once a famous place where many celebrities of the past would come to eat. Anyway, the "Park Road Inn" was right across the street from this joint and once we got un-turned around with directions, we found it and we were off to find the next "dive bar".

The next section of riding basically was taking us East through the Northern edge of Waterloo. Apparently the next bar was in Raymond and it would be several miles before we got there on paved roads. These residential streets N.Y. Roll chose to get us there were sometimes a bit sketchy with run-off ice, especially in the corners, so I was taking great care so as not to go down hard and screw myself up.

Looking back at Waterloo, we saw this flooded field with hundreds of Canadian geese. 

Anywhere near the Cedar River was flooded. Recent run-off has swollen many Mid-West creeks and rivers beyond capacity.

Once we broke free from the city proper we were greeted with the rising Sun in our faces and warming air. Well.......slight warming of air, really. It was still pretty chill and my sock choice was not on point. My tootsies were frozen by this time into the ride, but I pedaled onward despite that. The road was lined with frozen flood waters from the run-off of snow melt. These are typical areas to see flooding happen, so we weren't getting the disastrous floods like they are in Nebraska. Still, it was impressive to see just how much water was covering the flood plains.

N.Y. Roll enjoys the morning Sun as we ride the frozen shoulder coming into Raymond.

Eventually we were obliged to turn onto a fairly well used County road. Fortunately the pea graveled shoulder was smooth and frozen. It was as easy to ride as pavement. This took us into Raymond eventually and our next "dive bar" location was identified. Then it was straight on to the South to Gilbertville and the next bar location.

We stayed on the shoulder, only here it was on a strip about a foot, maybe slightly wider, of paved road on the right side of the "white line". Cars were giving us a full lane as they passed and we did not experience any close calls except for one where three cars met going opposite directions right as they passed by us. So we were all within close proximity of each other there, but no harm- no foul.

The Cedar River bridge at Gilbertville.

The first stretch of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail we tried wasn't too bad.

We made it through Gilbertville okay, but then N.Y. Roll wanted to go "off-route" and recon the CVNT (Cedar Valley Nature Trail). I figured it would be a complete waste of our time, but hey! This was an adventure ride, so...... The trail didn't look awful after we passed the depot, where it was mostly iced up due to pedestrians. We started out and N.Y. Roll promised me that if it got too bad we'd bail out at a gravel road intersection ahead.

Out on gravel! (Well......mostly dirt!) The frozen ruts were......interesting.

The trail conditions quickly deteriorated into a hard coat of frozen snow and glare ice from snowmobile traffic. I hen-pecked my way along while N.Y. Roll walked away from me with his wider, more voluminous mtb tire set up. We finally reached the promised gravel road turn off and made our way Northwestward, more or less, keeping to the CVNT as much as possible. After a few miles of gravel we were obliged to hop back on the CVNT and it was wild! The snow was much deeper here and frozen with soaked in rain which we had fall on the area earlier in the week.

If you look closely you can make out the herd of deer we saw.

Hike-a-bike for me, but N.Y. Roll cleaned most of this on his 2.25"ers.

The snow was rideable at times for me. I was amazed at how I could claw my way through at times. But there just wasn't enough "float" with 47mm of tire and N.Y. Roll walked away from me on his 29 X 2.25"s. At one point my front tire punched through a drift up to the hub! That was funny. I ended up walking a fair amount of this section.

A guy then rolled up on me riding an ancient Honda three wheeled ATV. He was amiable, and smiled at me as he started up a conversation with me. Apparently he had tried to keep this part of the trail clear with a truck and plow, but the blizzard a few weeks ago was just too much for him and his truck. He also stated that he had been busy fighting flood waters on his property and was out this morning to check on the angry Cedar River, to see if there were any ice jams.

Eventually we ended up on the bridge over the Cedar. All three of us peered at the turbulent waters rushing by. Finally the nice man bid us farewell and we turned our eyes toward Evansdale and the next "dive bar". We didn't have far to go, and once we found it, the next came fairly soon after. That was our cue to hit the recreational trail out of Evansdale toward Waterloo.

It may look peaceful, but it was anything but. The Cedar was forcast to crest later in the day Saturday.

Headed out of Evansdale on the recreational bike trail to Waterloo.

N.Y. Roll made a suggestion to stop at Rockets Bakery in downtown Waterloo for coffee. I was excited to do that, and when we got there we were greeted by a young lady behind the counter that thought it was funny that I was riding a pink bike while N.Y. Roll was wearing a pink helmet. I suppose that did look odd. Anyway, the coffee was excellent, and my stool, which had been sitting in the Sunshine, felt like a heated car seat after all that chilly riding. That made me think- are there any heated bicycle saddles? 

Coffee slurped, we remounted and headed back home. An excellent morning on the bike! I hit pavement, gravel, dirt, snow, and ice, all on the same ride. That's what I call "multi-terrain" riding, right there!

Ice And Snow Ride

River ice deposited on the trail made for some technical challenges.

Saturday I had a window of time to sneak in a bit of a fat bike ride in the Green Belt. It had been quite a while since I had ridden back there due to being sick for two weeks. In the meantime it had flooded, frozen, and flooded again. It had snowed, rained, and snowed again. Sub-freezing temperatures insured that I should have no issues with mud or water, but I didn't know what the Green Belt would be like after all of the changes in weather and water levels.

I decided to roll with the Blackborow DS. I had it in "high" range to start out, but after I got off the pavement I stopped and switched to "Low" range for the duration of the ride. Good thing too.

It didn't take long to find the trail littered with river ice broken up and laying like broken bits of pottery all over. Big bits of pottery! Riding on them was a bit sketchy since they would tilt and shift in ways that eventually made me get off and walk for safety's sake. There was no way around these chunks of ice, so I had to gingerly step across the debris field and remount on the further side once I got there.

Then onward to the bridge across the Black Hawk via the steep climb up from the recycling bins. I was put to the test, but I managed to clean that climb to Ansborough. Then I stopped to calm down the heart rate! Once calmed down, I amused some drivers by hopping the curbs and snow piles to the other side. It seems fat bikes are still capable of attracting attention despite their being much more numerous in the area now days.

The trail has become a frozen river of ice in many spots.

Those geometrically shaped objects on the left are more chunks of frozen river ice deposited by flooding.

The Green Belt is a flooded out mess right now, but due to the sub-freezing temperatures, it is passable. As soon as the temperatures get above freezing for an extended period of time though, things will quickly become a quagmire and impassable by cyclist or pedestrian. I was glad I took the chance to get out there. Monday things are forecast to swing back above freezing far enough that the beauty of the white covered desolation will be lost, I am afraid, even if you could still get back in there to ride.

I love how the crystalline structure of ice and the virgin white snow contrast against the water of the creek. 

The ice glowed and sparkled in the limited amount of light there was available late in the afternoon.

The ride was fine with little fanfare. I just had to keep aware of where the trail was snow versus ice. Keeping my tires on the snow meant traction. Avoidance maneuvers were executed aplenty. Ice chunks from the river were seen, but not to the extent that they became an obstacle you couldn't ride over. In fact, one other fat biker and one skinny tire mountain biker had been through here ahead of me. I used their lines to gain the best way up and over the ice in several places.

A view of the frozen lake in the Green Belt.

When I reached the turn off for the lake loop I veered left and back up away from the creek and all the frozen ice puddles on the trail. It appeared that there had been many hikers along the trail here, and maybe a snow shoe or two, but no bicycles as far as I could tell. No more ice chunks either. Just crunchy snow under the tires and silence otherwise. It was really beautiful. There was a lone ice fisherman on the lake and when he heard my tires crunching on the icy snow he turned to look and I gave him a friendly wave which he returned in kind.

Time for the lights to be turned on.

With all the crawling around ice patches and river ice, I was not making great time. It wasn't about going fast though. I was having fun, stopping to take in the beauty where I found it, and just enjoying being outdoors again after all the time off the bike. It got darker, so I stopped and fired up the light to help me see. I made my way around the lake as the lone ice fisherman decided to call it a day. We exchanged hellos again in the parking lot where his eyes grew wide at the sight of the Blackborow's enormous tires. I bet he talked about that afterward to his friends....

Nature is brutal

 I decided to take the bike trail home. I didn't come back North very far from Martin Road when I saw the remains of a deer right in the middle of the trail. A cruel reminder of the realities of nature, or maybe it was a left over from misguided hunters? Who knows. I saw no signs of blood anywhere, so maybe it was drug up out of the woods by dogs. In any case, it was a sight to behold in the wan light of the evening.

After that I pushed onward to find my home in the dark. The lights were on and my wife and son had just returned from the grocery store. Back to civilization!

I enjoy riding in Winter on fat bikes. I am sure glad we have that choice these days as I have always wanted to enjoy riding in Winter, but couldn't. Not with the limitations mountain bikes had up until the fat bike came around. That didn't stop me from trying, of course, and I recall thinking that a fat bike would really be great. I just never did get a Pugsley due to the fact that you had to build it up from scratch and that wasn't a very cost effective way to do things for a bike that, at the time, I thought had limited usage opportunities. Little did I understand that fat bikes were far more than just "snow bikes".

But I am glad that they are that too!

Ice And Snow Ride

River ice deposited on the trail made for some technical challenges.

Saturday I had a window of time to sneak in a bit of a fat bike ride in the Green Belt. It had been quite a while since I had ridden back there due to being sick for two weeks. In the meantime it had flooded, frozen, and flooded again. It had snowed, rained, and snowed again. Sub-freezing temperatures insured that I should have no issues with mud or water, but I didn't know what the Green Belt would be like after all of the changes in weather and water levels.

I decided to roll with the Blackborow DS. I had it in "high" range to start out, but after I got off the pavement I stopped and switched to "Low" range for the duration of the ride. Good thing too.

It didn't take long to find the trail littered with river ice broken up and laying like broken bits of pottery all over. Big bits of pottery! Riding on them was a bit sketchy since they would tilt and shift in ways that eventually made me get off and walk for safety's sake. There was no way around these chunks of ice, so I had to gingerly step across the debris field and remount on the further side once I got there.

Then onward to the bridge across the Black Hawk via the steep climb up from the recycling bins. I was put to the test, but I managed to clean that climb to Ansborough. Then I stopped to calm down the heart rate! Once calmed down, I amused some drivers by hopping the curbs and snow piles to the other side. It seems fat bikes are still capable of attracting attention despite their being much more numerous in the area now days.

The trail has become a frozen river of ice in many spots.

Those geometrically shaped objects on the left are more chunks of frozen river ice deposited by flooding.

The Green Belt is a flooded out mess right now, but due to the sub-freezing temperatures, it is passable. As soon as the temperatures get above freezing for an extended period of time though, things will quickly become a quagmire and impassable by cyclist or pedestrian. I was glad I took the chance to get out there. Monday things are forecast to swing back above freezing far enough that the beauty of the white covered desolation will be lost, I am afraid, even if you could still get back in there to ride.

I love how the crystalline structure of ice and the virgin white snow contrast against the water of the creek. 

The ice glowed and sparkled in the limited amount of light there was available late in the afternoon.

The ride was fine with little fanfare. I just had to keep aware of where the trail was snow versus ice. Keeping my tires on the snow meant traction. Avoidance maneuvers were executed aplenty. Ice chunks from the river were seen, but not to the extent that they became an obstacle you couldn't ride over. In fact, one other fat biker and one skinny tire mountain biker had been through here ahead of me. I used their lines to gain the best way up and over the ice in several places.

A view of the frozen lake in the Green Belt.

When I reached the turn off for the lake loop I veered left and back up away from the creek and all the frozen ice puddles on the trail. It appeared that there had been many hikers along the trail here, and maybe a snow shoe or two, but no bicycles as far as I could tell. No more ice chunks either. Just crunchy snow under the tires and silence otherwise. It was really beautiful. There was a lone ice fisherman on the lake and when he heard my tires crunching on the icy snow he turned to look and I gave him a friendly wave which he returned in kind.

Time for the lights to be turned on.

With all the crawling around ice patches and river ice, I was not making great time. It wasn't about going fast though. I was having fun, stopping to take in the beauty where I found it, and just enjoying being outdoors again after all the time off the bike. It got darker, so I stopped and fired up the light to help me see. I made my way around the lake as the lone ice fisherman decided to call it a day. We exchanged hellos again in the parking lot where his eyes grew wide at the sight of the Blackborow's enormous tires. I bet he talked about that afterward to his friends....

Nature is brutal

 I decided to take the bike trail home. I didn't come back North very far from Martin Road when I saw the remains of a deer right in the middle of the trail. A cruel reminder of the realities of nature, or maybe it was a left over from misguided hunters? Who knows. I saw no signs of blood anywhere, so maybe it was drug up out of the woods by dogs. In any case, it was a sight to behold in the wan light of the evening.

After that I pushed onward to find my home in the dark. The lights were on and my wife and son had just returned from the grocery store. Back to civilization!

I enjoy riding in Winter on fat bikes. I am sure glad we have that choice these days as I have always wanted to enjoy riding in Winter, but couldn't. Not with the limitations mountain bikes had up until the fat bike came around. That didn't stop me from trying, of course, and I recall thinking that a fat bike would really be great. I just never did get a Pugsley due to the fact that you had to build it up from scratch and that wasn't a very cost effective way to do things for a bike that, at the time, I thought had limited usage opportunities. Little did I understand that fat bikes were far more than just "snow bikes".

But I am glad that they are that too!

Friday News And Views

The Lance- circa 2005. Image by J. Maus of BikePortland

Should He Or Shouldn't He?

You've probably heard by now, but just in case you haven't, it appears that Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, and a maybe a couple of other former USPS teammates of theirs are going to do a mountain bike event coming up sometime soon. This has raised up the dander of the internetists who are concerned about the "purity of the sport". The cry of "Never!", or the alternative, and somewhat more measured calls for "live and let live", all have been noted.

Of course, it should be noted that Lance Armstrong serves a lifetime ban from any "sanctioned" events. So, there ya go folks. Cycling has served its verdict and that's that. However; you'd think that by somehow having Lance Armstrong even dare to enjoy the bicycle ever again is an affront worthy of.......I don't know. Ask these people that are getting their pants all wadded up.

It is also worth noting that despite Lance Armstrong's sins against cycling, he did raise a lot of money for cancer research and brought a lot of people hope in that realm. Maybe he was a bully, or unsavory in character, I have no clue. You can find all sorts of stories about his character on the innergoogles if you want to waste your time doing that.

All I know is that he is riding his bicycle in a competitive endurance event with some friends. I don't think that's going to hurt anyone.

Slickery!

Winter On Hiatus:

Well, I actually got back to riding the bike to work yesterday. That was a good thing and it felt awesome to ride a bicycle again after a break for being really sick. I am still not 100%, but I feel a lot better.

But in the meantime, as I stated on this blog previously, Winter has taken a flier and gone somewhere else for a while. In the meantime we have had an ice storm, rain, and more rain, with some fog, then rain. This has eradicated the snow, made a lot of standing water, and that water turns into ice.

In some cases, that ice gets pretty slick, and in some places, there is no way around it. You have to forge ahead. I chose "by foot" in the place I am showing here, but in a few other instances I took my chances. I was sideways more than once on the way to work. But, I made it! No dumps, no foot off the pedals. Then, while I was at work, the skies opened up.

Rain on January 19th and temperatures in the 40's. Wonderful. Good thing I decided to pack the rain pants.  That long stretch of ice I walked in the morning shown in the image here was drowned in two inches of water. Super slick! I was very careful when I walked back across that in the afternoon! Funny thing about frozen ground, it doesn't absorb rain water. So, there was a lot of running water and standing water puddles all over that place. The river and creeks here are all on the rise. Flooding in Winter? Could be a reality for some folks, unfortunately. Sheesh! Will Winter ever make another appearance this season?

I'm betting it will. In fact, they are talking about something possibly hitting next week. Stay tuned......

Well, that's a wrap for this week.  Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Friday News And Views

The Lance- circa 2005. Image by J. Maus of BikePortland

Should He Or Shouldn't He?

You've probably heard by now, but just in case you haven't, it appears that Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, and a maybe a couple of other former USPS teammates of theirs are going to do a mountain bike event coming up sometime soon. This has raised up the dander of the internetists who are concerned about the "purity of the sport". The cry of "Never!", or the alternative, and somewhat more measured calls for "live and let live", all have been noted.

Of course, it should be noted that Lance Armstrong serves a lifetime ban from any "sanctioned" events. So, there ya go folks. Cycling has served its verdict and that's that. However; you'd think that by somehow having Lance Armstrong even dare to enjoy the bicycle ever again is an affront worthy of.......I don't know. Ask these people that are getting their pants all wadded up.

It is also worth noting that despite Lance Armstrong's sins against cycling, he did raise a lot of money for cancer research and brought a lot of people hope in that realm. Maybe he was a bully, or unsavory in character, I have no clue. You can find all sorts of stories about his character on the innergoogles if you want to waste your time doing that.

All I know is that he is riding his bicycle in a competitive endurance event with some friends. I don't think that's going to hurt anyone.

Slickery!

Winter On Hiatus:

Well, I actually got back to riding the bike to work yesterday. That was a good thing and it felt awesome to ride a bicycle again after a break for being really sick. I am still not 100%, but I feel a lot better.

But in the meantime, as I stated on this blog previously, Winter has taken a flier and gone somewhere else for a while. In the meantime we have had an ice storm, rain, and more rain, with some fog, then rain. This has eradicated the snow, made a lot of standing water, and that water turns into ice.

In some cases, that ice gets pretty slick, and in some places, there is no way around it. You have to forge ahead. I chose "by foot" in the place I am showing here, but in a few other instances I took my chances. I was sideways more than once on the way to work. But, I made it! No dumps, no foot off the pedals. Then, while I was at work, the skies opened up.

Rain on January 19th and temperatures in the 40's. Wonderful. Good thing I decided to pack the rain pants.  That long stretch of ice I walked in the morning shown in the image here was drowned in two inches of water. Super slick! I was very careful when I walked back across that in the afternoon! Funny thing about frozen ground, it doesn't absorb rain water. So, there was a lot of running water and standing water puddles all over that place. The river and creeks here are all on the rise. Flooding in Winter? Could be a reality for some folks, unfortunately. Sheesh! Will Winter ever make another appearance this season?

I'm betting it will. In fact, they are talking about something possibly hitting next week. Stay tuned......

Well, that's a wrap for this week.  Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Mushing Through The Slush

This was mostly slick ice. We didn't have studs on,so we turned around.

The plan was for NY Roll and I to head up to Ingawanis Woodlands and check out the groomed single track there on our fat bikes. We headed out at 8:00am on Christmas Eve with an aim to get out of town via Burton Avenue.

On the way out the city streets were a complete mess. Most of them were hard packed, slightly icy surfaces with a good amount of outright slush to go through. Fortunately the temperatures weren't cold. It was about 34°F and the wind was very light. Getting sprayed by the slushy mess wasn't that big of a deal then.

I dressed with a base layer, which was a summer time tank style, then a Twin Six wool jersey, and then my Bontrager Lithos jacket. The bottoms were the Pixelite Winter tights from ProViz. The feet were wrapped with a long pair of thinner wool socks, a vapor barrier made of plastic grocery sacks, and then my Keen hiking boots. Hands were covered with a thin wool liner and the Planet Bike Borealis lobster mitts. I was fine for the entire ride, and in fact, I had to vent using the various zippers on the Lithos jacket for most of the ride. On my head I used a thin winter Polar Fleece cap and my Bell Super helmet.

So,anyway....... We got out to the gravel and it was icy. We did not have studded tires, and I and NY Roll both felt that it would only take one small misstep and we could be hitting the deck. I wasn't in for slamming into a rock hard, icy gravel road at (likely) a high rate of speed. So, we turned back and headed towards George Wyth State Park via Airline Highway. That's where we hit masses of slushy crap.

NY Roll wanted to ride on the pavement, but I called out to him to ride the (what looked like) snow covered shoulder saying, "C'mon! It's a fat bike!" he came over onto the slushy mess and we plowed that through at least a mile. We got a good work out, that's for sure! Then I had a brilliant idea. Instead of crawling all the way around the North side of the park to come in the back way, why not just go through the front gate? Normally this wouldn't be adviseable due to heavy, fast traffic, but on Christmas Eve, the traffic was light.

George Wyth was soft, and the track for fat bikes likely won't survive till next weekend.

So we headed down the entire length of the service road to the shelter house, then we hit up some single track. It was rather soft, slippery, and the snow was nigh unto going to slush. In fact, in several places it was slush.

At least we got to ride this before the rains on Christmas Day and the above freezing temperatures forecast for the week between Christmas and New Years Day basically take the option away from us. At least for the short term. I suppose I'd rather the tracks get all melted away instead of halfway gone, freeze hard as a rock, and then put some powdery snow on top of that. That would basically really suck!

So, NY Roll and I made our way going basically West around Alice Wyth Lake and back to the main bike path where we decided to try and find a coffee shop for a bit of a warm drink. We slogged our way over to where the two main coffee shops in Cedar Falls are but both were closed up. Hmm..... Bummer. Oh well, moving on now......

We then hit the snow covered bike paths down to the Cedar River and followed that East for a while. The constant correcting and sliding out a bit was taxing. It was pretty obvious that this was going to be the last of decent fat bike conditions for a while now. We stopped for a bit to chat, then we headed on to Lower Hartman and the trail through there. This was perhaps the best trail for fat biking we rode all day. Fairly solid snow, packed in well, and no real soft sections as we found in George Wyth. Then we exited that trail via old John's Trail and out on old Shirey Way to head up Hackett.

The bike path along the South side of the Cedar was pretty treacherous.

I decided that after three hours I needed to get back to my home, so we decided not to try any of the "Sherwood" single track, although it looked pretty good. Instead we went up the remainder of the bike trail along the Cedar and when we got to Northland Oil and the old "access" to the small park up on the ridge, I discovered the new bench cut trail which had recently been put in. NY Roll had seen it before, but I hadn't been down this way since Fall on a gravel ride when I came back into town this way.

It's a nicer, easier, and for the City of Waterloo, safer way to access the lot above where people stop to use the trail. I suppose they got a lot of complaints from users that couldn't negotiate the steeper old trail. Next thing ya know they'll be paving this. Which would be rich, since then it would become an icy, unusable ramp in Winter. I don't know what the plan is, but accommodating "everyone's needs" typically screws things up worse for everyone. We'll see how this develops..... Besides, I hate the "pave everything" ethos of most trail user groups. It is simply misguided and typically wrong. But this post is about a ride, so.......

This ride eventually came to an end. Three hours or so of fun, wet, tough riding which left me pretty whooped. I guess I was pretty happy with how it went, since I haven't been on a longer ride for a while. At least the Holidays haven't slowed me down.......much, well......maybe a little! I was a bit disappointed we didn't get to make a big country adventure out of this, but ice and fat tires don't mix well on uneven ice. I was glad to preserve my health, especially my left shoulder, as it is and not do anymore damage. Now with the weather being as wonky as it has and will be for a bit, I just might actually be able to get out on the gravel roads in the country. In between now and then......it's gonna be a mess.

Mushing Through The Slush

This was mostly slick ice. We didn't have studs on,so we turned around.

The plan was for NY Roll and I to head up to Ingawanis Woodlands and check out the groomed single track there on our fat bikes. We headed out at 8:00am on Christmas Eve with an aim to get out of town via Burton Avenue.

On the way out the city streets were a complete mess. Most of them were hard packed, slightly icy surfaces with a good amount of outright slush to go through. Fortunately the temperatures weren't cold. It was about 34°F and the wind was very light. Getting sprayed by the slushy mess wasn't that big of a deal then.

I dressed with a base layer, which was a summer time tank style, then a Twin Six wool jersey, and then my Bontrager Lithos jacket. The bottoms were the Pixelite Winter tights from ProViz. The feet were wrapped with a long pair of thinner wool socks, a vapor barrier made of plastic grocery sacks, and then my Keen hiking boots. Hands were covered with a thin wool liner and the Planet Bike Borealis lobster mitts. I was fine for the entire ride, and in fact, I had to vent using the various zippers on the Lithos jacket for most of the ride. On my head I used a thin winter Polar Fleece cap and my Bell Super helmet.

So,anyway....... We got out to the gravel and it was icy. We did not have studded tires, and I and NY Roll both felt that it would only take one small misstep and we could be hitting the deck. I wasn't in for slamming into a rock hard, icy gravel road at (likely) a high rate of speed. So, we turned back and headed towards George Wyth State Park via Airline Highway. That's where we hit masses of slushy crap.

NY Roll wanted to ride on the pavement, but I called out to him to ride the (what looked like) snow covered shoulder saying, "C'mon! It's a fat bike!" he came over onto the slushy mess and we plowed that through at least a mile. We got a good work out, that's for sure! Then I had a brilliant idea. Instead of crawling all the way around the North side of the park to come in the back way, why not just go through the front gate? Normally this wouldn't be adviseable due to heavy, fast traffic, but on Christmas Eve, the traffic was light.

George Wyth was soft, and the track for fat bikes likely won't survive till next weekend.

So we headed down the entire length of the service road to the shelter house, then we hit up some single track. It was rather soft, slippery, and the snow was nigh unto going to slush. In fact, in several places it was slush.

At least we got to ride this before the rains on Christmas Day and the above freezing temperatures forecast for the week between Christmas and New Years Day basically take the option away from us. At least for the short term. I suppose I'd rather the tracks get all melted away instead of halfway gone, freeze hard as a rock, and then put some powdery snow on top of that. That would basically really suck!

So, NY Roll and I made our way going basically West around Alice Wyth Lake and back to the main bike path where we decided to try and find a coffee shop for a bit of a warm drink. We slogged our way over to where the two main coffee shops in Cedar Falls are but both were closed up. Hmm..... Bummer. Oh well, moving on now......

We then hit the snow covered bike paths down to the Cedar River and followed that East for a while. The constant correcting and sliding out a bit was taxing. It was pretty obvious that this was going to be the last of decent fat bike conditions for a while now. We stopped for a bit to chat, then we headed on to Lower Hartman and the trail through there. This was perhaps the best trail for fat biking we rode all day. Fairly solid snow, packed in well, and no real soft sections as we found in George Wyth. Then we exited that trail via old John's Trail and out on old Shirey Way to head up Hackett.

The bike path along the South side of the Cedar was pretty treacherous.

I decided that after three hours I needed to get back to my home, so we decided not to try any of the "Sherwood" single track, although it looked pretty good. Instead we went up the remainder of the bike trail along the Cedar and when we got to Northland Oil and the old "access" to the small park up on the ridge, I discovered the new bench cut trail which had recently been put in. NY Roll had seen it before, but I hadn't been down this way since Fall on a gravel ride when I came back into town this way.

It's a nicer, easier, and for the City of Waterloo, safer way to access the lot above where people stop to use the trail. I suppose they got a lot of complaints from users that couldn't negotiate the steeper old trail. Next thing ya know they'll be paving this. Which would be rich, since then it would become an icy, unusable ramp in Winter. I don't know what the plan is, but accommodating "everyone's needs" typically screws things up worse for everyone. We'll see how this develops..... Besides, I hate the "pave everything" ethos of most trail user groups. It is simply misguided and typically wrong. But this post is about a ride, so.......

This ride eventually came to an end. Three hours or so of fun, wet, tough riding which left me pretty whooped. I guess I was pretty happy with how it went, since I haven't been on a longer ride for a while. At least the Holidays haven't slowed me down.......much, well......maybe a little! I was a bit disappointed we didn't get to make a big country adventure out of this, but ice and fat tires don't mix well on uneven ice. I was glad to preserve my health, especially my left shoulder, as it is and not do anymore damage. Now with the weather being as wonky as it has and will be for a bit, I just might actually be able to get out on the gravel roads in the country. In between now and then......it's gonna be a mess.