All Dressed Up

Since about midweek, the forecast called for a "snow event" on Saturday. Nothing big, just 1"-3". Perfect for a little seasonal cheer and super fun for riding.

Friday I got Mary Jane's wheel shod with Nevegal 2.2's in anticipation. The front was leaking pretty bad, about 10 psi an hour, but I hoped once I actually rode it that would be cured.

But with snow coming I wanted to get a ride in on my Swift before the slop hit. I figured I'd do some more cross practice, it had the secret gear and skinny 1.9" tires on, but the idea of running around the woods with my bike on my shoulder just wasn't too appealing, so I veered off onto the singletrack. Stoopid big gear was kind of fun, but I still ended up carrying my bike a bit, which is probably good.

Saturday, I had to sort out the whole leaking tire situation, so Mary Jane it was. You could feel the snow in the air. It wasn't quite freezing out, but the humidity, and smell of the air said snow. The tire held air, and the weatherman upped the snowfall to 2"-5"!

Sunday morning... Nothing! A mere dusting at best. James assured me that he did indeed get snow, but he has about 800' of elevation on me. I was getting out later in the day, which means walkers on the fireroads, so I chose to stick to mostly singletrack to avoid them. Mary Jane's tires were holding air (Yay!), and ripe for the gnar, so she was up.

The dusting turned to a slightly more significant accumulation at about 500'. A lot of the trails had either been cleared by riders or water flow and were a sloppy mess. The ground just wasn't frozen yet. The snow showed where people braided the trail, or went around obstacles; even going out so late in the day, I was making first tracks because some of my trails are a little off the beaten path, or the Nancys who rode before me wouldn't ride anything technical (no offense to anyone named Nancy).

Although the ground wasn't frozen, the windchill was freezing the mud to my bike. Perfect for the fixed gear. Unfortunately my cranks are sub-standard for fixed riding, and the chainring spider lockring keeps on loosening. Might have to go to a freewheel until I can get a better set of cranks for it.

The tires were great. If the power was there, you'd keep moving forward, not a single slip. Unfortunately, there wasn't always the power to move those big meats. Felt super slow and heavy. But for Winter riding, they'll be the bees knees.