A line in the sand (err snow)

So many possible titles for this and so little time. Yesterday was finally time to draw a line in the snow and show someone who's boss. That particular someone is our favorite trail we love to hate because it acts like a rebellious teen during the winter- Denman's. This year and last as soon as it was decently rideable we got ice on the trails and they pretty much become impossible to ride. That's been the case for over a month now.

I was fed up with not being able to ride since the trails had been basically a sheet of glare ice. The 6" of snow we received Saturday gave me some hope. Apparently, nobody else shared my optimism though as Sunday rolled around to find me heading out for some solo miles. I knew I was in for a treat when just riding the paved levee trail from Railroad brought me down into the little ring. I slowly made my way to the back entrance while wistfully looking at the cross country ski tracks paralleling the trail. All good so far. I dropped off the trail down towards the entrance. Glare ice under 6" of snow does not make a rideable surface when it's on any type of slant! I quickly realized this as I slid and crawled my way past the culvert to the edge of the woods. I was determined one of us was going to cry uncle and give up the ghost today.

Exit from Denmans to Dirty Express (I rode backwards)


I finally started crawling my way through the woods. Resistance and stability were the game today. Little ring up front and damn near the granny in the back as I spun along at 3-5 MPH for the most part. In the spots where I was riding just the snow, it was great. However, there were a ton of spots where it was still crunchy and chunky underneath along with the icy layer. Those spots really drug on. I quickly mastered getting a push off and jamming on the pedals to keep my momentum going to start back up after I'd ground to a stop. That is to say, I was stopped on a pretty regular basis. One of the bigger problems I had was out in the flats where the trail and surrounding forest floor were equally coated. I couldn't pick out the line and managed to get off course a few times.

Blank slate, which way to go?


Sometimes it was a bit more obvious where to go.


You could take a run at most little pitches, but ended up walking them anyway.


Hike a bike was pretty regular today.


The skinny is looking a bit lonely.


Happy camper out on the trail.


I kept upright more often than not though I did have a couple ugly spots. I fell over in one spot and caught my lower leg between a log and the bike. That one will definitely leave a mark for a bit. Other than that, the worst spot on the whole trail was the gully crossing just before you get to Little Italy (if you're riding forward). The ice jam backup a couple weeks back pushed chunks up in this area and left some on the downhill slope. I fell on my face several times trying to crawl up it and push my bike up as well. Add in that there are decent sized holes in between the chunks and it's all covered in 6" of snow and it's a recipe for crashing and broken ankles. Be careful!

Finally, I rolled to the end of the trail. Almost an hour down to get from one end to the other, but I made it and was still smiling. Not to mention I captured one of my favorite shots.

Favorite.


The ass-kickin' machine.


Damn that was fun?!


I crab walked my way up to the top of the levee and found the worst trail conditions yet! I gave up and walked the last 50 or so yards out to Valley Drive as I rolled over to Squirrel's place for a quick warm up. He was just getting ready to head out for some gravelly goodness so we rolled down Railroad together.



I hear his knee was bugging him from running the other day so he had to bail on the ride. That sucks! Get some rest and ibuprofen on it man and hit it hard later this week. Sounds like we're in for some wild weather again.

All in all (not calculating today's snow), I'd say Denman's is rideable, but you're going to have to walk a decent amount and work on your handling like crazy. I have my computer set to not record any movement under 2.5 MPH and stopped to try and rest it half-way through yesterday since it was not recording in a number of spots. I was actually still riding those spots, but moving that slow! I think if we got about a half dozen or so more tracks through there it would created a packed track with a lot more traction. However, getting those tracks through there will probably suck mostly beyond belief. Hope to see some guys out there soon. Oh ya, I know I was off course a few times so feel free to ignore my line in those spots.

Crunchy, drippy, and chewy

Sounds like a sure fire recipe to head to the urologist, doesn't it? Hey doc, I've got this thing, it's crunchy, drippy, and (according to my SO) just a bit chewy... OK, now that I've ruined your mental imagery for the day, how about a true description for each.

Crunchy describes the ride on Saturday. I stopped to pick up my new studs Friday night at the shop. Mine is on the bottom in this photo.

Innova steel studded 26er tires in the center flanked by my Nokians.

At $110/ea suggested retail these things should not only mount themselves (or at least come with their own lube), but pedal the bike, and have the ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Alas, they did none of the above. Saturday's ride was not good. I could get plenty of traction, but that really didn't do much for me when I'd break through the top crunchy layer and almost come to a complete stop roughly every 15 feet. The trail to Denman's entrance wasn't ridable so I walked back thinking the singletrack might be in better shape due to runners beating a path down, not to be. I turned back less than 100 yards in and decided to go for black label. Kudos to the City of WDM for plowing their bike paths at the same time as or before their roads. That kicks ass! Clive Greenbelt on the other hand sucked. It had the same crunchy layer, but with the hardpack underneath it was at least semi-passable. I got a mile or two down the trail before a long stretch of breaking through the crust had me turning back. I logged less than 10 miles and all in all about 45 minutes trying to work it out. Not a good day for riding.

Drippy was the name of the game for Sunday AM. With subzero highs for the day and the afore mentioned crappy trail conditions, it was time to break out the trainers for a group sweat at Lou's house of cycling. Lou, Pete, Steve, and myself indulged in some early coffee and then headed over to the garage for a couple hours of suffering and sweating with friends. Actually, not much suffering was done, just a good sweaty drip. I finally got to try out my new trainer and was pretty happy with the performance for the cost ($75 used). Much better and more tolerable than the rollers I tried last year. After logging close to 2 hours, it was time to head back home and work around the house for most of the morning.

Sunday afternoon plans for a fun day with friends fell through as Squirrel was hacking phlegm in about every direction so opted out of bringing the germs to the party(thanks, but you guys were missed), Kent apparently thought being their for his wife to go into labor was more important (you're probably right...), and Hansers were inundated by family coming to town. That left just Corley and I to break in a new tradition of making Santa Cookies. We definitely made the most of it though and had a great time just dad and daughter.




We iced, sprinkled, and even sampled a couple. Great activity. After that it was hanging out for the rest of the day and catching a few ball games on the tube. Definitely a good way to kill off the weekend.

Gettin' worked

Ahh, so much to do, so little time. I just figured out that I'm getting worked over in multiple ways. At least one of them is by my own doing, so I guess it's not all bad. I hit the trails Wednesday night for some snowy fun. Almost 20 miles in a couple hours was more than enough for this guy. At least I had some good company with Conlon, Govner, Jed, and Cam at various points. I did get to lay the only set of tracks through Rhythm which was pretty cool. Going down trying to cross an icy log in Squirrel's next- not so cool. Nothing hurt though, so I kept on trucking. Everything went pretty well until I rode the levee back to the shop. Damn, that was the final nail in the coffin as it was work pushing through even though there were a couple tracks all ready there.

Now for the really big worked over part. Work is going to suck for the next few months again. I was just breathing easy after my casino was done (they even opened up yesterday). My boss waffled a bit in handing out the next casino between myself and another co-worker. Well, she ended up being too busy so I got it handed to me roughly 2-3 weeks later that I should have. We're still putting together our shop drawings, but I all ready had to go to site to take measurements so we can start building things. What does this all mean?! Yup, I'm back to evenings and weekends at work for the foreseeable future. Color me less than excited.

Now for the question on whether or not I'll get worked over at the company Christmas party tonight. Typically our bonuses are handed out a day or two before Christmas, but with this being the official party, I'm wondering if they'll be handed out tonight. I'm guessing not, but it would be cool if they did. Here's hoping.

Fresh powder!

With snow in the forecast for yesterday, plans to ride were definitely in the air as well. I hooked up with Squirrel, Conlon, and Govner for some working out in the deep powder. I'd forgotten how much effort it takes to stay upright and moving forward in unbroken trail. Actually, I was riding 3rd wheel so I only plowed a small portion of trail compared to Squirrel and Conlon. Rollercoaster was a ball with the fresh stuff although I took it way slower than usual and had to walk the switchback. After that, we blasted off towards Denman's and hit the really deep stuff. The connector was 8-12" deep in spots and definitely the hardest work.

As we rolled up to Denman's we were accosted by Fuller and Kent who were obliged to take a partial lap through on the way home from work. Considering the snow had stopped falling less than 4 hours earlier and we were in the process of laying 6 tracks in the snow, I consider that pretty awesome for the heartiness of our local guys. All good things must end though and the rest of the boys rolled off about halfway through Denman's saying they'd had enough trail breaking. Squirrel did manage to take one shot of my copious amount of light before heading out though.



Looking ahead no tracks


Looking back at laying on a single set after the boys took off


After they rolled out, I kept on rolling and as I was stopping for pictures I saw another set of lights coming. Cam was out enjoying the snow as well. He rolled by and I jumped on his wheel while we rode the rest of the trail. That's probably the only time I'll ever be able to keep pace with him as we were just put putting along, but it was still a blast. We rode to the end of the levee on Dirty Express where he turned back for a reverse loop and I headed back to the truck. Almost 2 hours of playing in the snow. Definitely a recipe for good times!