rumrunn6

def. prefer the frozen hard stuff

mounted up the studs last week & I'm looking for stuff to ride on

rumrunn6

9 degrees at sunrise. the dirt out back looks perfect. nice & hard w/ a dusting of snow. just enough to add ambiance. too bad there's too much to do today

rumrunn6

the dirt was good riding today. nothing like flypaper or quicksand



cpl ice puddles to justify the studs, hehe

ZIPP2001

Need the ground to freeze and stay frozen and a nice little crunch to the snow.

rumrunn6

today, was a day of, wet, sticky, flypaper dirt

wolfchild

Our off road trails are a soft muddy mess right now due to warmer than average temps and lots of rain. I just ride pavement right now until everything freezes again... hopefully cold temps will come soon and freeze everything solid.

rumrunn6

getting there. a few degrees colder please, to make it crispy & provide more traction. wet leaves &/or leaves w/ a little wet snow, makes things interesting on a gloomy day. no hard, fast turns

LesterOfPuppets

Yeah, when I lived in winter wonderland, I'd never go out to the trails after work if it got above 27° or so. I didn't run studs, just 3" tires.

Miele Man

I f ar prefer frozen to wet if there's soft ground when wet. It's much easier to ride on a hard frozen surface. The only time I don't like a hard frozen surface is on t he unpaved trails around here that are rail-trails and have a lot of foot traffic. Those deep footprints in the frozen snow or trail surface are like riding constantly over potholes. I think that's another surface perhaps better suited to a fatbike or a full suspension bike.

Btw, i don't use studded tires. I do lower the air pressure sometimes though to cushion the ride a bit and then pump the tires back up when I get to the paved roads I use to get home on.

Cheers

rumrunn6

yeah I hear ya. been there, done that, don't like it. if it's thin melted slush over pavement, OK, cuz then I can get down to the pavement. hard frozen footprints, even shallow ones are no fun

last winter I had a wonderful ride on a snow covered paved rail-trail. it was glorious. recently plowed, thin layer of compacted snow. super cold, crispy cold. bike tracks & footprints didn't matter due to the unique set of conditions. I do use studded tires, but on this day they weren't required. good solid traction
this may look slippery, but it wasn't. crusty & granular, no slick ice

Miele Man

That's a nice surface to ride on.

Here are a couple of image from a few years ago. I took them for fun. It's a rail-trail that runs about 75kms. This day the snow was fairly soft and hadn't frozen yet and therefore the footprints in the snow weren't too bad. A different story once those footprints along with many others froze.



The above image cropped.


A side view of the bike.

Cheers

rumrunn6

got lucky w/ exceptional hard pack last night. but it wasn't dirt

rumrunn6

for my own reference, planted the tulips! the ground is hardening up

gecho

It has been staying very mild lately. Combined with 2 large snowfalls earlier in the month the ground is wet, and won't dry out. So early morning cold means firm dirt, and afternoon warmth means mud. Looks like the warmth is going to continue into December. Messy but at least I don't need a balaclava yet. There have been a few El Ninos where this pattern stuck around all winter giving us a break from the typical arctic winters. Downside is if that happens it will be cloudy most of the winter with frequent fog.

About 6 years ago I remember one ride where it was so foggy I couldn't see light in any direction just outside the city. Just the glow of my own headlight illuminating the fog. Triggered a sensation of claustrophobia.