Theo In December

We've had a lot of snow so far this season... which gives Theo Wirth a distinct advantage over the other local trails.  It's proximity to areas of dense population and the fact that it's a relatively short trail means that Theo is usually the first local trail to get packed after a snowfall.  As expected, Theo was in great shape today...

The trail is well-packed and narrow enough to keep it interesting.  Venture off the trail and you'll stop dead in your tracks, but stay on the packed tread and it's smooth sailing.  It was a gorgeous day... temps in the upper 20s, light winds, and bright blue skies made for ideal riding conditions.

The Vredestein Bull Lock continues to work well on the rear Large Marge.  It was a little squirmy at times, but nothing major.  I think I'm starting to get used to the Larry tire up front.  The last time I rode Theo in the snow, I had an Endomorph up front. Granted the conditions are not exactly the same, but the Larry seems to have significantly more bite, and feels much less likely to slide out while turning.  A welcome improvement over the Endo in my opinion...

Hopefully I'll be able to get out for another trail ride before the end of the year.  If not, today was more than memorable enough to make it a great last ride of 2010.  Happy New Year!

Sunset Creek Ride

Got out for a quick sunset ride today...

The creek is frozen and rideable, but it's slushy in a few spots.  Understandable since we've been getting highs in the mid/upper 20s recently.  Supposed to be around 30 for the next couple days... which is good news in my book.  I'm hoping for a thaw, followed by some really cold temps.  These are the types of conditions that turn the creek into sheer, solid ice.  And it gives me an opportunity to mount up my DIY studded tires.

At the end of last season I put some road miles on the studded tires and in the process lost a bunch of nuts from one side of the studded Nevegal.  The other day I spent an afternoon tightening loose nuts, replacing missing nuts, adding glue to the studs to prevent the nuts from loosening again, and adding fresh latex to the screw heads on the inside of the tire.  I hope to put them to use soon.

The dirt trails next to the creek have received enough foot traffic that they are also rideable.  As long as you stay on the trail... wander and you'll sink into the soft stuff.  Just a short ride today, but hopefully a longer one tomorrow.

Pressure Gauge Mod

After seeing this on the twitterverse, I was motivated to make some modifications to my current tire gauge.  A couple years ago I bought an ATV/Motorcycle tire gauge... it works, but not great.  It reads from 0 to 60 psi, which is higher than I need for my fat bike.  I would prefer a 0-30 gauge, but this one works just fine since it has marks at 1 psi increments.  The blow-off valve near the body of the gauge is a nice feature.  The worst aspect of the existing gauge is the push-on Schrader head, which makes it difficult to get a good seal on the valve of the tube.  

I also had a craptastic specialized pump in my junk pile.  I figured the 2 could be combined to make a better gauge...

After cutting both hoses, I found a random adapter (I'm still not sure what it was for) that screwed tightly into both hoses. What I ended up with is a much more useable fat-tire pressure gauge:

The new gauge screws directly onto a Schrader/Presta adapter, which provides a nice tight fit to the tube.  I may end up shortening the hoses a bit more though... sometimes it is nice to bring a gauge with you and a shorter hose would make it much more pack-friendly.  The blow-off valve makes it easy to accurately lower the tire pressure during a ride.  Although I usually just go by feel while out on the trail, so we'll have to see if this ever actually leaves the house...

Storm of the Decade

Minneapolis got dumped on... officially 17.1" of snow fell at the airport.  Biggest snowfall since the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 (the all-time record holder for a snowfall from a single storm). Unfortunately, I haven't gotten out on the bike yet.  After many, many hours of moving snow yesterday and today, I was beat.

I did muster enough energy to get out on my snowshoes for a little while...

Crossed the frozen creek for the first time this season; I'm glad to see that it's finally turning solid.  Some of the creek trails have already received enough snowshoe traffic that they might be rideable on the fat bike.

This storm should set us up with a great base for the "official" mtb trails around the metro area.  Hope to hit one or two of them soon...

MN Valley Trail

We received 6-8 inches of snow Friday night, so after clearing the driveway and sidewalk it was time for a ride...

I chose to head down the MN Valley Trail at Mendota, heading toward the Cedar Ave. bridge.  I was hoping that I'd run into these folks for a beer and some company.  Their route had them riding toward me after they crossed the river at Cedar.  They either changed their route, or they never caught up to me, so I was solo... which is alright by me.

At my turn around point I saw the "racers" riding the trail on the other side of the river - it looked like they had a good sized crew.  From what I could tell there were 15-20 riders, and most of them were on CX bikes or regular mountain bikes.  I saw at least a couple fat bikes in the group.  Given that we don't have much of a base below the fresh snow, I'm guessing the skinny tires did just fine in the fresh stuff.  I just wonder how the skinny tires did once the trail started to get chewed up...

Speaking of tires, I tried out a new rear tire yesterday: a Vredestein Bull Lock.

It is only a 2.35" tire, but it has a lot of volume.  Mounted to a Large Marge, it measures about 5mm narrower and 5mm lower height than the 2.7 Nevegal I usually run.  It also weighs a claimed 660 grams... compared to the Nevegal's claimed weight of 1430 grams!  Maybe it was the fact that I had over pound and a half less tire to spin, or the fact that fat tires weren't a total necessity, but I was pleased with the new tire.

Here you can see the tracks from the front Larry and the rear Bull Lock.  The Larry's pressure could have been lower, but the Bull Lock was aired down as low as possible.  You can see the Bull Lock's casing is making an imprint in the snow (but not necessarily contacting the ground).

The temps were in the lower 20s and winds were unnoticeable in the woods.  The MN Valley Trail is a bit narrower at the beginning, and with more traffic near the trailhead, the first (and especially the last) part of the ride was slow due to multiple tracks in the snow.  Hikers, dogs, skiers and snowshoers had chewed up the trail.  Once the trail got into the woods and widened out, it was smooth sailing.

And shortly after the 494 bridge, the last skier had turned around and I had fresh tracks.  It was just me and the critter tracks.  It doesn't get any better than this...

My turn around point was a quiet spot next to the river, where I stopped to enjoy a nice, cold beer...

After the beer and some snacks, I headed back the way I came.

All in all, a great day in the woods... sun, snow and on my bike.