7 days.
I was feeling completely worked over and had no strength what so ever on the bike. My affliction verging on addiction with accumulating hours had caught up to me and I was no longer even on a plateau, but starting to sink.
I was tempted to break my riding fast when news of snow came my way, but chose to just roll with what ever nature brought me and stick with the plan.
Saturday was the first day back on the bike after my self imposed cycling exile.
Because there was fresh snow, I put on a lighter, gentler gear (a 20).
Well somewhat fresh would be a better way to put it. It snowed on Wednesday, which gave hikers a few days to aimlessly trample the snow, and a little crust to form.
Super ass grinder.
Where hikers had tread was the worst. If you could find a stretch of trail that was still untouched it was much better, but getting up to those trails there was no way to avoid the hikerclusterfuck.
But when we did get to the ridge. Oh so sweet. Made the grind up worth it.
It was taking its toll though. I was wiped out. Kerry was feeling it too, but he had mas macho gearing on his bike so it was understandable (34x18).
After the ride my quads were killing me. Stretched, used "the Stick", stayed horizontal, but still ached. I sure hope I didn't jump the gun and push it too hard too quick.
Never the less, Kerry had given me an inferiority complex. He was pushing close to a 55" gear, while I wasn't even running a 47". I decided to at least go back to my regular 32x18, and see what happens.
Sunday, I'm still sore, but I figure I'll give it a go anyways.
I guess I was just walking around sore, and not bicycle sore, because even with the bigger gear things were going great. I made climbs I didn't the day before, and at no point did I regret running a bigger gear. Did I clean everything? Of course not, there's snow on the ground Silly.
Going back in the way back machine, I was running a 52" gear fixed last Winter, and I thought it was fine.
I have a theory why even though there is more resistance, you shouldn't gear down for snow; your wheels are going to slip at certain points of crank revolutions unless you gear stupid small and can stay seated spinning like a blender. That's not how I roll. Since at certain points you are going to loose traction, you should cover as much ground as you possibly can between slips. Or something like that.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Kerry es muy macho
Rich and Dash
Kerry managed to capture my inner evil elf
Charlie showing how it's done
Charlie riding away from me, beginning to hate me.
Rich also competes in novelty boxing matches
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