Snow!
Monday, December 22nd, 2008We got our first major snow of the year on Friday. I took an extended lunch break to go ride the levee trail in the snowstorm. There must’ve been five or six inches of snow, and even on my mountain bike, it was very difficult to ride. This made me long for a Pugsley. That’s not likely to happen, but maybe I can at least get some wider tires at some point.
I was really glad that I found a way to get to the trails with only a few blocks of riding on the road. Even the roads were snow-covered, and my bike was not handling well. However, I think cars had it worse, as they were sliding around more than I was.
To give you an idea what it was like, it took about an hour and a half to go just under 6 miles. Even riding on flat, straight, smooth pavement, I was in my lowest three gears the entire ride, struggling just to go straight. It was difficult, but also a lot of fun.
The Levee Trail — some sort of four-wheeled vehicle seemed to have come through here. Kids were sledding nearby.
After crossing the tracks, I rode down into the woods, to the unpaved trail. The trail surface made little difference with all the snow, except for a few spots with slick leaves under the snow. This area was more secluded and quiet and feels a bit remote, even though it isn’t.
Going down to the unpaved trail
Looking back at my tracks down the hill
Close up, you can make out where my pedals struck the surface of the snow while riding
Looking across the Susquehanna River toward Wilkes-Barre
Market Street Bridge, river, and city, through the lacy forest
The Reflecting Pool, looking slightly less reflective than usual, but still offering a good place for personal reflection
The trail passes under the bridge, but I turned around. Now sleet stings my face
It was another great ride. I love seeing familiar territory in all different conditions, so I didn’t mind that this was such a routine route. The riding was harder than I expected, but it paid off with great scenery and a huge fun factor.
This ride was also a good test of my eyebrows and eyelashes. As you can see in the above photo, they are doing a find job of catching snow before it can reach my eyes.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
What you really need are wider rims, for snow riding. Then, you can run really low air pressure to widen the footpring and allow the tire to conform a bit more to the surface.
The Snow Cat rims I used last year allowed me to run 2.4″ tires at 12 or 15 psi. Great in the snow, but still no good on the ice. That’s why I went to the studded tires.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
awesome! we haven’t gotten much beyond a few flurries, nothing good yet. i’m gonna bundle up my son and take him for a snow ride if we get a nice snow
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Greatt stuff!! All we’ve had is bitter temps and now rain and mid-30s. Not much fun with that.
Have a happy holiday!
December 24th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Two days of rain here will get us commuters back on the road. Your ride looks like a really lot of work.
December 30th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Looks like a good ride, although I can’t imagine riding through that stuff! Then again, you got more snow in that storm than we have had cumulative in the last 2 years!!