Inside ride, or outside ride?

LQQK'n out my front porch this morning. I got sidewalks to clear, steps to shovel, cars to clean up and start, all the while trying to decide is it worth it to ride outside today or should I ride the indoor rollers today.

Do I get all dressed up in layers, haul the bike up the basement stairs, load on car, drive to trail, after ride haul back down stairs, hose off, dry, and lube. It's 12 degrees out. Is it worth it? Or should I stay indoors and just ride the rollers?

I decided "What am I thinking? I bought the ultimate snow bike. Let's go, I'm burning daylight.

As you can see by this picture it was well worth it. It was a winter wonder land out there today.

Beware of masked men out riding snow trails.



Trail was hard and well packed for cycling. I rode 2 hours out and realized I didn't pack any lights, and it would start getting dark in 2 hours so I turned around. When your shadow is 50 feet long you know your day light is leaving soon.

The wind was picking up on the way home, trail was snow drifting over in some places. Temperature dropping, headed below zero F

The 'Fat Bike' rides great on the snow. It's harder work with the big tires and weight, but it climbs hills and clings to the snow like no other.

Hope your day had some fun in it too.

RideON,

DAve.

Rain changing to Snow

I rode 15 miles out on snow covered Heritage Trail, on the FatBack. My Endo Tire on the back and Larry on the front kept me hooked up good to the packed snowmobile paths and holding about a 8 mph average. It was 31 degrees, the light rain turned into a winter icy rain storm, it poured. I became soaked to the bone, wind picked up, I couldn't stay warm. I wanted to ride farther out, but I knew better I was at least 2 - 3 hours from getting home and I was starting to get chilled down to my core.

So I turned back around, the snow fall got heavier and heavier. Like a blizzard. It got harder to follow a good track, several times my bike slid out on me, I never did fly off the bike which is a good thing.

Me and the FatBack arrive home, cold, soaked, and hungry.

The FatBack says, "That was fun, let's do that again"

To that I say, "Get yourself a younger man."

The snow fall out in the country was beautiful today, I did not see another another soul the entire ride, I had it all to myself. I wonder why more people don't get out and enjoy this.

The folks over at "Cup-O-Dirt said some nice things about me. BuTTT!!!! They are my inspiration, all I did was ride 100 metric Dirt Centuries, slowly. The hardest part was managing the time it took, the ride was the fun part. It was their sight that got me started on this in 2008 I rode 18, 2009 54, and 2010 100.

Well it's been snowing for hours now, I hope the Snow Mobilers get out and pack down the trails and I will be out there again tomorrow.

So thanks for visiting my blog.

DAve.

How peculiar is that.....?

The forecast for this weekend is for a freezing rain, followed by a pile of snow, followed by steadily falling temperatures with strong wind gusts, going below zero F.

It doesn't matter bicycling is the weekend priority, to push myself, to see how far I can go, to ride in snowmobile ruts, trying not to fly face first off the bike.

I'm 57, my knee is acting up, swollen up, it needs to be drained, I should call the doc, but not now, bicycling is the weekends schedule.

I could have worked overtime this weekend, easy work, good money, it doesn't matter. I suspect when I am in my last days, I bet I won't be wishing that I would have worked more hours.

I'm anxious to get er started, to saddle up, to ride. How peculiar is that.......?

I've been working on the fat tired snowmachine tonight. The handlebars have been causing some hand discomfort, I looked into going with drop bars. Seems that provide perfect ergonomics for me and with my hands on the brake hoods brings no discomfort for long hours of riding. I'm afraid that might not give the control needed when you are weaving in and out snow ruts on trails. So I shortened up my Ergons with bar ends to fit on the twist shifters, and added these snowmobile bar covers, I think it will work out. The Ergons add comfort with the rubberized palm fit, and the bar ends offer more hand positions.

Hope you get to play too this weekend,
RideON,
DAve.

Putting the Fat-Back into Bicycling.

Holy Molley, after bouncing off the bridge planks from my bicycle crash Sunday, I found it hard to move around the next two days. So being I didn't pedal for two days as a result I took the day off for longer ride time today.

This morning it was 2 degrees F, I waited until it warmed up to whooping 4 degrees with a wind chill of -8 before I started to ride.

Birgit was out front when I saddled up and this is what she had to say me.

So if being "nutz" is based on deviating from society norms, and I probably will not see another cyclists for weeks at a time now that winter is here, perhaps she is on to something, but none the less I headed out.

OK I have to give my trail report now for Triple D race this Jan 16th being I have been assigned this task. Trail is in good shape, snow mobiles have compacted the snow quite well. I rode out 20 miles and 20 miles back. Hardly spun out at all and no crashes today. It is in good shape for the runners also. Skiers there is some gravel showing in the center in some places, but the path is wide, and there is room to ski on the side.

Came around a corner and surprised 7 eagles all sitting in a tree, they all headed upwards before I could get a picture.

I really wore down in the end, 6 to 8 mph pushing these big 4 inch tires. It was a gring but a great work out. Sun started going down, a chill was setting in me. Fatigue was grabbing a hold of me. This FatBack Bike, nothing else would ride like this. This bike rides great on the snow mobile trails. Winter will not hinder time spent on bike. No regrets.

Saw this old telegram structure, long ago abandoned. I wonder how many thousands and thousands of messages were sent through here. Happy news, sad news, all kinds of news.



Saw the Gnome again, he is still being mum about sharing any information on the location of the money tree. If we think 10 inches of snow is a lot we ought to try it being only 2 inches tall.
This is all I have to say,

Thanks for stopping by,

RideON,

DAve

Spent the day riding the FatBack snowmachine on Heritage Trail. Unlike yesterday the trail was ready for 4 inch tires from the start. There had been enough snow mobile traffic that I could easily ride, the best ride is usually where the snow mobile skis were and not where the snow mobile belt has been chewing on the snow. If you can stay on that narrow single path your ride is faster.

This FatBack bike is gonna work, I will be able to ride days and places that my mountain bike could not. I started out with yesterday's air pressure in the tires, the trail was more packed today so I put some air back in the tires. Imagine that 5 of the last 6 days I have been riding and haven't seen hide nor hair of another bicycler. Temperature started out at 11F and went up to 20 degrees.

I ran into a lady that I have Emailed trail reports to that lives out of town, she trains on these trails when she can. This is the first time I have met her. She was running and pushing something that looked like a walker with skis, and was loaded down. She is running in Triple D 26 miles, this Jan 16th, then on to Arrowhead which is a 135 mile run in Wisconsin over snow. YIKES!!!!!.

I only wiped out 'once' today. But it was a hard one. I was going across one of the many rail to trail bridges, the county workers put long rubber mats down for the winter snowmobile traffic. Well in almost all the places there is plenty of snow cover so my tires almost never come in contact with the rubber mat. I say almost because there was a spot that the snow mobilers had blasted all the snow off and when my tires hit that slick rubber mat and my tires kicked out sideways, I slammed into the ground shoulder and head and wrist. I hit the deck so quick, fast, and hard, my teeth rattled. Good grief I am sore tonight.

I think it is time for a Tom N Jerry drink with a shot of rum, and a shot of brandy.

The Dec 2010 issue of Bicycling magazine took a poll and asked "What is the best thing about the bike?" The answer came back
That sums it up quite nicely, I'd say.

BikeON, DAve. Oh I almost forgot, today's video, "the bridge" no and not the one I crashed on.

Who ordered this snow?????

Well we got about a foot of snow overnight. I knew the backwoods trails out of town would be too snow deep even for the 'snowmachine.' I put the FatBack on the bike rack and drove out to the town of Sageville, I though I could ride from the trails from there. I couldn't, snow was too deep and there hadn't been any snowmobile traffic yet to knock down some of that snow to make it bike ridable. So there was one lone car path, down the road and through the parking lot. I rode this path, around and around for two hours, practicing snow riding, if I went off the path at all my tires would slide out and sometimes down I went. This happened about a half dozen times, I'm sore tonight, too many wipe outs for these old bones.

Then I saw them, four snowmobilers coming out of the woods and down the trail. So followed their paths, for miles and miles. I let most the air out of my tires, I was less then 10 psi, but I could ride where ever the snowmobilers went, 6-8 mph most the time, it was fun. Only a bike with 4 inch snow tires would be able to ride here,

Bike can stand on it's own

Bike on rack headed home.

Well unless I can't move, plans are for a full day of snowriding tomorrow on Heritage Trail. More snowmobile traffic on the trails will make riding faster and funner. I get to say funner now cause I'm all growed up.

That's all for now

Dave

Night travels

Pounding the night riding again. Riding through paths and trails in the night is a rush. I was tired but wanted to get on the bike. Pushed the pace, it's different riding when I can't see my speed or heart rate, and only a chunk of trail in front of me that my headlight illuminates.


The weatherfolks are talking snow this weekend, bring it on, I got the rig that'll ride it.


Tomorrow night I want to work on the bike, the hand position is not comfortable, I might try my Ergon grips with bar ends.



I will have to shorten the grip to fit the twist shift. The strain relief of Egron grips is the best for straight bar.

Sometimes with nightriding out alone in the woods and through tunnels your mind can play tricks on you. Sometimes you think you see something, and are not sure. Umm I was wondering, do we know for sure the boogieman is not real?


Well, my bed waits for me, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

through the woods

Been busy, working, helping son Josh move, and other stuff.

I have been night riding on trail paths an hour and half every night.

I haven't pushed the pace hard, still feeling this ride out, and navigating with headlight view only on trail paths.

In the dark the logs look like Aligators, and the big stumps look like Grizzly Bears, and a hanging vine is a Green Viper snake. At least I hope they are logs, stumps and vines and not what they look like.

Coming back and tweaking the bike, making changes, different combinations of equipment, and adjustments. Riding at night in the cold on trail paths requires everything to be 'just right.'

My lighting system works great, and I carry a back up head strap LED light in case my headlamp fails. I shut my head light off to see how dark it was, and you couldn't see in the woods good enough to walk out of there.

The FatBack is a great ride, I'll never have a iota of a regret buying this beast.

Ok keep riding,

Dave

My and the 'SnowMachine'

Took the big fat Snow Machine out for it's first real ride yesterday. The first thing I noticed was how great control the bike had. I could stop perpendicular with front tire against the curb, track stand then pedal ride over the curb with the big soft tires. The very low gearing and very wide tire base allowed me to maneuver bike through my neighbors' back yards with great control.

I rode bike off road, over snow mobile trails waiting for snow, on bicycle trails, and through the woods. One hill I climbed was to steep to ride down with the grass wet and slippery.

I went on some motor cross trails, but with the weather warming up the frost was coming out of the ground and the mud slimy and slick. My tires filled up with packed mud and I was sliding all over the place. I got a good workout in.

This is going to be a great fun bike to ride. I've thought about buying a 4" tire snow bike for the last three winters. First the Pugsley, then the Mukluk, and then I pulled the trigger and ordered the FatBack. I am glad I waited until the aluminium version of the TI FatBack came out, this year and I now own one before I bought one of the previous mentioned bikes. This bike is made in America, Alaska to be exact at the Speedway bike shop. I talked and corresponded with Greg the owner several times to get the right combination for me. He is a great guy, and great to work with. I whole heartedly recommend.

Even my 86 year old papa likes the beast.

I'm tired today, probably an accumulation of everything I've been doing. I could tell it takes some different muscles to pedal the 'snowmachine' with my upper back and feet being sore today. Was dark and pouring rain after work tonight, made it easier to take a rest day. It's hard for to accept at times, but sometimes the best training is to rest. Tomorrow, my plans are to ride a couple of hours in the dark through the trail paths. Which will make great training.

Triple D race is coming up this Jan 16th, traditionally only 14% of the bicyclist have finished this race, and these are well seasoned veterans of the frozen tundra. So that being said to go anywhere in that race night riding, alone, on snow trail paths is a must needed skill.

Ok time to go forage for food,

100 rides

1st Metric Dirt Century of 2010 March 13th 2010

100th Metric Dirt century of 2010 Nov. 27th

So I did say this, back in April 11th. I really didn't do the math, I didn't realize that most of my days off work would need to be spent with butt on saddle. I didn't even have a century in this year until March 13th. I didn't realize at that time, that I would need to ride in thunderstorms, wind, mud, and tiredness. After around 40 Centuries, I began to realize that I need to stay on this to complete 100. There were some weekends that had commitments and I couldn't ride. As important as riding is, I knew it couldn't subtract from family times.

It seems like all 100 rides were the same in some ways, and all incredibly different in many other ways. Most of the rides are a blur in my memory now. The purpose of bicycling is for the moment, and not for the goal. My goal is over now, but tomorrow, I'll go do it again. I'll ride.

Some biker buddies have written me and said thanks for the inspiration. I'm grateful if I was, but you guys and gals are my inspiration, your out there riding, and I get bik'n energy from reading about your rides. So thank you.


Today's ride being a bit celebratory, I found out that not all fluids freeze at 22 degrees Fahrenheit.


My shadow joined me in today's ride.


Another reason out of many, to ride a bike, the sights that you see, I did not see another bicyclist the entire 63 miles.

Thank you for visiting.
Dave Giegerich