Ice Dreams

Took the 'Horse to Trumbull and met up with some friends for nearly a 3 hour ride in 25 degree temperatures. Again, dressed right for the conditions it's a blast. The main trails are well packed down and traction is never an issue.

Upon getting on the bike at the Commuter Lot I noticed that my fork was really squishy and after one big compression there was a lot of oil on the stancheon. Oh, oh! Looks like I might have a bad seal. Yikes! I wonder if yesterday's ride in the cold, or the drive down could have effected the seals in some what. Thankfully I have a lockout, which gives me 3 inches of travel upfront and that was more than enough. Looks like the 'Horse is headed back to the shop this week.

Here is what the main trails looked liked. It was like a groomed XCountry ski trail, only for bikes. Never a worry for traction and very smoother riding.

That's me in the Bat Cave. Rode some new stuff that I never knew was there and some trails that I haven't been on in year. The snow is the universal equalizer.

Rolling the new bridge on the blue trail

How cold will you go?

It was 14 degrees when I got up this morning and jonesin for a ride but that seemed to be just too cold. So I waited a few hours and when the thermometer read 19, I got suited up. Overbooties are a must, lobsters of course, polar fleece snowboarding shorts keep my posterior toasty warm, wicking t, waffle shirt, and my windstopper fleece; and yet 20 minutes later I was sweating everywhere!

No one has ridden at Upper Paugussett besides myself since last Wednesday. I tried following the ATV tracks to see where they came out on the blue trail and they were all over that trail.

Those are people walking down the center of the Pond Brook inlet. I guess with the constantly below freezing temperatures these past two weeks ponds and lakes will be frozen but I still don't like the idea of walking out on the ice.

Riding the 'Horse in the snow

I got my Iron Horse back from the shop about a week ago after having the brakes redone which included new pads and a new rear rotor. Also had the rear derailleur put back on after waiting a month for new hangers. That's one of the drawbacks of buying a bike and then a year later having the manufacturer go out of business. Luckily, I have the 2007 MKIII, apparently the rear triangles on the 2008 are known to fail and unless you got your bike from Randal Scott you are not getting a replacement rear triangle. I did seem them, however, on eBay.

The first thing I noticed after riding rigid for the past two months is how smooth the bike is. Having a range of gears to chose from made riding in the snow seem easy. Of course, temperatures were perfect for snow riding. Two to three inches of snow but not compressed enough so that it would turn to ice.

I tried something new on this ride, I brought a hex tool and a water bottle. If I got a flat, I am a 10 minute walk from home, so why bother bringing all that extra hardware? It's not like I am not accustomed to doing the walk of shame numerous times out of this forest.

Tried something new with the clothing, too. Given that it wasn't windy and the sun was out I opted for only two layers underneath my hunting jacket, which by the way is the warmest, fleece jacket that I have ever owned. I also just wore the lobsters and while my hands sweated some it was just cold enough that they didn't overheat.

The big let down of the ride came when I discovered ATV tracks on the Upper Gussy Trail. It looks like I am now going to have to do some serious rerouting and putting up trail blocks here and there to discourage them from riding on it.

The ATV'ers didn't ride the whole trail so I still had some virgin powder to ride and it was dreaming. The whole Gussy trail seemed like buff singletrack.

Rigid and Frigid in the Blizzard

Accumulations of snow were not that much but with the high winds and blowing snow there some white outs here and there. Got a call last night that there were a few rides taking place at Trumbull this morning starting around 11 AM, so I headed to the commuter lot off of Daniels Farm Rd in Trumbull. Upon arrival, didn't recognize anyone and didn't want to stand around waiting so I took off.

Seeing that today was about 10 degrees colder than it was last Tuesday I opted for another layer this being my fleece snowboard shorts along with my Army PFU pants and spandex shorts for padding. Up top, wicking shirt, long sleeve wicking shirt, thermal top and my blaze orange, wind stopper fleece. Started riding with lobsters and over booties but when my hands started to sweat I replaced them with gloves.

I decided to ride the Dillinger again because it feels so good in the snow and I just love riding single speed and rigid now that I wonder if I should even bother with a squishy for the bike. Besides, the 'Horse needs a shakedown ride at Upper Paugussett before I think I can take it out elsewhere. Ironically it was at Trumbull where I got a serious case of chain suck in the spokes, a bent hanger and a bent brake rotor.

I rode to the start point of the yellow and red trails, which is further north of the first cut off that everyone takes. I was hoping there might be a different way up but it's all rock drop offs. Then I tried to stay on the yellow as much as possible because I was looking for the section that Rich and I missed during our last ride. I found it and also found how the reroute will connect nicely to Mullholland Drive. Below is where this reroute would go through, from left to right.

Further north, after finding some more new trails up along the ridge I was coming down one descent when my front wheel washed out in the snow and I went OTB. It was a yard sale. Getting up, I discovered that one of the clips that held my brake cable onto the frame flipped off and my brake like cracked. The loose cable was bothersome but I was able to ride with it, that is until I had another problem where the other clip snapped off as well.

I was in the process of trying to reroute the cable somehow so that it wouldn't be a nuisance when I encountered these three guys riding north on the blue trail. The guy on the left is Bill and the guy on the right, holding the W.F.O. Niner is Rich who hooked me up with his last zip tie which helped me out a tremendously. Apparently this was the other group that was riding today but arrived late and didn't get started until 11:30.

Got back to the car in 2 hours and 30 minutes and had ridden only 7 miles! As you can see in the picture below my jury rigged rear brake cable.

In the picture below you can see the cracked brake line. Good thing these aren't hydraulic brakes. Despite the brake issue, the bike performed superbly. The new tires have so much grip to them and I can't get over how nimble the bike is in this configuration.

Happy New Year!

A new year has begun and hopefully more riding opportunities will avail themselves. Some riding goals for this year include riding in more Gravel Grinders like the 2010 Spring Classic Dirt Road Ride - April 18 in Waterbury, Vermont; D2R2 - Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnee 2010, Deerfield, MA, Saturday, August 21, 2010 (Registration starts January 11th); and of course theTour de Roxbury, hopefully I will be able to keep up with the pack better this time around. I will probably do a few more Route 66 races this year but that largely depends on family obligations, the ability to train (or I should say push myself to train) and my larger responsibilities to the Connecticut Mountain Biking scene as President of the CT Chapter of New England Mountain Bike Association.

On top of that, I want to get my 9 year old daughter riding trails with me and get my two sons off training wheels! I did, however, get my wife on two wheels so I can foresee more family bike rides in the future.

Looking back at 2009, it was a great year for me on a bike. I achieved my goal last year of riding a 1000 miles, half of which were trail miles. My commuting miles in 2009 were almost cut in half from 2008, largely due to increased job responsibilities, rainy weather in the spring and summer (I have to maintain my fair weather commuting status, ya know), and the extra burden of needing to transport my laptop to and from the office every night.

For 2010 I am setting a commuting goal of 1000 miles (riding fixed of course)! While on the subject of setting goals I also want to try and break 1000 trail miles this year. The key will be to push myself more to ride before work.

Not sure if there will be any bike changes this year. I am working on a new fixed gear bike for riding to work with. I am still on the fence with what to do with the 'Horse. With it being down so long and riding just the Dillinger I am finding that I prefer riding single speed and rigid a lot more than before. It's not the bike but I think the configuration of the bike that makes me want to ride it more. The pure simplicity of a rigid single speed bike on the ueber technical trails of New England seems to be an ongoing challenge that I want to master. Like my cars, I will probably just ride it into the ground.

If I can swing it, however, I want to get a Cannondale SLK Cross bike with a headshok. That would be the best Gravel Grinder bike/Rail Trail bike.