I’m pretty sure that the people who watch the weather in the Denver Metro area stay high on legal weed 24/7. Since it started getting cold, any time there’s imminent snow, there’s some sort of winter weather advisory. However, Tuesday morning, Indy woke me up at 5:30 to potty, and as I was stumbling half-asleep through the house to take him out, I wondered, “why the hell is it so bright in here?” Then, I looked out the back window and saw that there was a blanket of snow on everything.
Nothing like shoveling the porch at 5:30am in a snow storm to let your dog know you love him.
We ended up getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10″ (TWSS)
Lucky for me, I’d brought a demo fat bike home from work a couple of days before that. My original plan had been to go ride up Rollins Pass, but I couldn’t leave Indy alone for that long, so I ended up not going. I set out on some of the less-busy roads and bike paths near my house.
They snow plow the paths here. It’s pretty sweet. I did figure out pretty quickly that trying to ride through unplowed powdery snow is basically impossible. My take on fat bikes based on my 2.5 hour initial ride is this- no bike is great at riding in the snow, it’s just that a fat bike is the least sucky of all bikes to ride in snow. I’d like to try one on trail sometime this winter.
I think the flask is a pretty important part of the riding attire
Taking on Winter without going a little stir crazy has been a little bit of a challenge. Luckily, the weather usually isn’t too bad. Sometimes, I grab an occasional night ride after work.
Sometimes, I work on my ground and pound.
Working in a bike shop over winter is an exercise in keeping yourself busy/entertained.
I got to check out a SRAM ETap bike the other day. I like it. I’m on the last gen 2×10 SRAM Red right now, and it’s great. I’m going to hold out until ETap has been revised at least once and is available at the Rival level before I consider upgrading.
Speaking of upgrades… I upgraded a Speed Concept tri bike the other day.
If you don’t know what #onelessarmadillo is, you are missing out. Check out the Just Riding Along podcast on Mountain Bike Radio, and you’ll also hear about that, as well as the McSnuggie:
Don’t listen to the podcast if you’re my mom.
I got a deal-you-can’t-refuse on a fat bike about a year ago, but hadn’t been really interested until that came along. Once I had it, after the first snow bike ride (I use mine only for snow) I came to the same conclusion: Frozen water and two-wheeled vehicles are strange bedfellows. But then, oddly, I found some things to love about it.
One, my dog loves it. She doesn’t particularly enjoy running behind my bike when I’m riding on dirt, but on snow I’m much much slower so she has plenty of time to sniff around and chase chipmunks. And cold and snow is crack to her.
Two, it’s like doing the interval training that I refuse to do voluntarily. I often wind up somewhere that’s been minimally packed by snowshoers or snow machines, and you can ride but it’s a full-focus, full-power effort. Getting started from a stop can be quite the touch move. The bike won’t just roll, so you have to jump onto it stationary, into an instant track stand, and then apply deep but smooth power to the cranks to make it move. It’s been great for my winter fitness.
Three, descents on un-climbable or barely climbable terrain can be an absolute hoot!
One of my favorite places is the Poncha Road. Last time I went I was able to climb perhaps a half mile above the Starvation Creek Trailhead.
Gotta remember my flask next time.