Riding in snow…

On days when the morning dictates things other than heading up for skiing for whatever reason, including all sorts of plumbing problems, a good afternoon snow biking ride can be quite enjoyable. It was a beautiful day outside and warmed into the mid to upper 30’s, actually almost to warm as a number of sections of the trail became more muddy than snowy.

Good friend Alex and Jen dropped their little girl off with my wife for a few. Muchos gracias to my lovely wife for watching her while we ride.

If nothing else biking in snow is good training to be smooth on the power, in much the same way as sand the snow does not respond well to a heavy pedal stroke. This is especially entertaining on a single speed because sometimes it’s just a matter of keeping the pedals turning over as slowly as possible without standing. With all the running lately this is a very different type of strength than I’m currently used to.

The trails were mostly all solid packed snow, a couple sections got really sloppy. Perfection would probably have been a couple hours earlier in the day before the trails had melted out quite so much. Most sections were cleanable with a couple small exceptions, or when technique got sloppy and the rear wheel cut loose. There was one section of downhill that was loose, slidable, and all in all quite enjoyable, we made sure to ride that portion twice for good measure.

In a nice little shout out to my good friend Damien, I can confirm that his bikes do indeed work well in snow. Not that this was ever in doubt, but even so. If you ever have a desire for a custom bike that will blow you away and make you smile every time you ride it give Clark Custom Cycles a look.

Anyway, back to life, a bit of cleaning, then good friends coming over for cornbread and chile. mmmmmm…tasty…