Two Wheel Blogs

I think if I had it to do over again I'd probably choose to ride on the road today. I got an email yesterday from one of the guys on the team. He wanted to get out for a Christmas Eve MTB ride. It's been so cold lately this seemed like a really good idea. Indeed when we started out it really did look like it would be a great day for a trail ride.

Four of us met up mid-morning. Of the three others, two were geared with one full and one front suspension. The third was like me, though his SingleSpeed was quite a bit nicer and lighter than mine. Why is it the oldest and slowest guy gets the most disadvantaged ride?

What a great morning. The sun was shining. The air was cold. The trails were frozen solid. As you can see in the picture, even the few puddles of standing water had iced over. It made for some really fun riding. Too bad it didn't last.

About an hour into the ride the sun warmed up the air and the trail surface just enough to turn it to sticky, slippery slime. That's where our ride ended. None of us wanted to be responsible for trail damage. And even though only the top ½ inch of trail had melted by the time we reached the parking lot the temperature was still climbing. As it was I brought home a lot more muck and mud than I like to.

Temperatures climbed into the low 40's here today. If tomorrow's like that, I may have to get out for a Christmas Day road ride.