Monday, November 22, 2010

November 22nd (Morning)

Still riding! The temperature on the internet said -10°, and yet with the 26km/h headwind, it was rated that it felt like -19°! I say “supposedly” because, really, it just felt cold!

Corrie and I found a fleece sweater at Penny Pincher’s this weekend and it turned out to be a perfect second layer. Not too warm, breathable and yet I never felt too cold. I removed my clipless pedals and put my regular pedals with clips back on so I could wear my running shoes with two pairs of socks. It didn’t really matter anyways as my toes still froze. I had slightly better traction when walking up the hills in the snow, but not much. Considering those two things, I may try my big Sorel’s… Too big? Probably. But at least I know I would be warm and traction wouldn’t be an issue!!! Winking smile

It did snow a lot this weekend (well, a couple of inches I guess) so I was a little apprehensive about what this would mean for my trails. The Juniper section was no problem as it is so well travelled that the path was worn in quite nicely. The snow, however, definitely adds a rolling resistance factor, though! Sheesh…

The pipeline section at Rose Hill was good, I still got some decent speeds going down into the dips, but walked two of the hills as I was going much slower and there is precious little traction now when I do start climbing. Smile I headed up from Frolek’s lower road to my single-track and that part of the trail was fun. Less travelled (not at all travelled in many spots other than wildlife), so it was fun to crunch along through the fresh, undisturbed snow trails. I did come across another biker’s trail at one point, so I’m not the only one!!!

As I rode along the edge of Peterson’s Creek valley on the east side, I got a bit nervous. Traction was non-existent, and I had the sudden realization of how if I slipped off of the trail it could turn suddenly very bad. Trying not to think of what was below me, I focused on keeping the bike upright and made it without issue. However, as I crested the top of the long, straight steep downhill it started getting a bit hairy again! Thankfully at this point, there are no cliff edges beckoning me to careen off of them. But, nonetheless, once it got steep I had extremely little control. The rear wheel had no effect for traction and slid from side to side. But what was worse, was the front wheel sliding! I now couldn’t control my direction NOR my speed, a very nasty combination! Thankfully the trail is about 4-5 feet wide right there, giving me room to slide around. I made it down still rubber side down so that was a huge relief! I crossed the creek and then made it up the other side by a combination of walking and biking.

By the time I got to the top of the trails and came out on Summit Drive, my water had finally frozen solid in the bottle. At least I got 30 minutes of hydration when I needed it! I might see if I can rig something up inside my jacket for a spare water supply maybe.

The rest of the ride was pretty good. I actually didn’t mind the street portion this time, probably because I didn’t face a free-falling death if I slipped off track… Winking smile In the end, my toes and fingers were still pretty cold, but the rest of me was really good. If I can ride with boots, I will try that next. Not ideal by any stretch, but if it means I have traction to walk the sketchy portions and my toes stay warm, then maybe the extra weight and annoyance of the clod-hoppers will be worth it? I still would like ski-goggles if I could, but nobody sells clear lenses in town (that we found so far, I think I’ll phone around today). Other than that, things are looking not too bad… So far… Smile with tongue out

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