Gnat Likes....

I've had a blast riding my snowmobike this year.   My "fatbike" lite allowed me to ride new places.   But, I must admit that riding in the snow really isn't my thing.   You need to embrace walking and pushing your bike.  You need to embrace slow speed.  You need to embrace the constant torque you need to put into the pedals to keep those big wheels turning in the snow.    Don't get me wrong, snow bike riding is fun and at times truly incredible, but it isn't going to get me to where I plan to go.  I'm no Alaska snow adventurer or Arrowhead 135 wanna be.   I need something else.  

My ride on my Fargo on Saturday reminded me that I like to turn a certain cadence and go a certain speed.  I like to cover more ground.  I like to feel the air rushing by and over my face.   It's time to put the snowmobike away and spend some quality time commuting and riding pavement & gravel.    

I gotta say this winter has been the most fun I've had exploring on a bike.    Thank you snowmobike.   See ya next year!

Last Friday, Kid Riemer and I took some time to go do some official business shooting for Salsa   As you know, I like to take pictures, but this time it was a bit different, I was not behind the camera.   Nope.  I was the subject. Maybe someday you'll see his work from this shoot show up in print or online.   

I took only about 5-10 pictures before turning over my camera to Kid and his Pugsley.   Kid used to shoot A LOT in the film days.  He is an amazing photographer.  Kind of weird being on the other side.  We ended up being out for almost 3 hours in the perfect snowy conditions.    I've scanned the pics, but can't wait to view them full size.   It was such a perfect morning.   

He also brought some of his old Nikon stuff to try out on my camera.    In his hands in the picture above is an old Nikon 300mm f2.8, a sweet piece of glass.   One of which I will likely never own as Nikon's current version of this lens is above $3000.   Thankfully, Kid's generous too as he said he'd loan me the lens anytime I want to give it a try on my own.   The long lens really can bring you close to a subject.  I've got a couple of shots in mind of a rider riding some flowy and fast single track through heavy trees all around him.   One of these days I'll take him up on that offer and hopefully bring you something pretty good.   

In other news, I was planning on putting my snow bike mostly away and turn to commuting so I can start getting some longer rides and more miles.  However, it doesn't look like winter is ready to go yet.   I'm thinking of one more week of riding the bike above quite a bit before turning to one of my new projects for the remainder of the winter.

It finally got above zero this weekend.  This meant we got to go outside for "extended" playtime!   Funny how warm single digits above zero can feel.      OK...It's not funny.   Sad really.   Strange may be a better word.    We got outside and that is what matters.  

Whenever I tell people I've gone riding out in the cold, most of them ask "How many miles did you go?"   I find that question interesting and if answered a bit misleading.   You see for me, going out to ride in the winter isn't about miles.  It is about time.   I need to get out.   I need to be on my bike pedalling.  Distance rarely matters unless I've got a specific destination in mind.   Winter and cold makes your common distances seem further.   All those layers of clothes make your routine route feel like more effort.   Nope, it's not about miles.   It is about saddle time.   

When it is below zero, my time is often about 1 hour.   Between zero and 20 degrees I'm good for about 2 hours, more if there is no wind.    20-30 and I'm good for almost any amount of time unless the snow is melting and it is wet and sloppy.    Cold is OK.  Wet is OK.   Cold and wet is not OK.  Once you are wet, being cold isn't far behind.  It's a recipe for disaster.   

This past Saturday I got out for a 2 hour exploration.  As I mentioned last Friday, I have a new winter adventure idea.  I went out to explore a route and do a little test.  The above pictures are a sneak peak.    More to come as I do a bit more research.    

Wow, it's cold.   Still need to ride though.   This cold sure makes the snowy singletrack firm and fast. 

More than once I got offline and burried the front wheel in the snow.  I fell several times in the soft and deep snow.  It's interesting how sections that don't seem fast in the summer go quickly in the winter and stuff that is technical and fast in summer are so slow in the winter.  

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend.  I'm on my second cup of coffee.   Ahhh......