Today's Ride

I've been back on the bike for several mellow rides over the last week and have so far avoided crashing. Today I linked the two snomo trail rides into one 3 hour adventure, woot. Ribs only hurt on one technical climb. Cooler temps rule, even had to adjust layers over the ride.

SBR, Mr. Moose and Mr. Big Buck on the trail:


After riding successfully through a deeper puddle, this one stopped me dead:


This rooty section is a lot of fun (and longer than you see). Have yet to ride it without a foot dab:

Sick Bird Rider wrote

I've been back on the bike for several mellow rides over the last week and have so far avoided crashing.

Good stuff. How's this going over on ze home front? :)

I'm also diggin the cool temps. A shot at some low 40s or maybe 30s in the mtns tonight.

Good to see you out there. Looks like a beauty ride.

Harvey44 wrote

Good stuff. How's this going over on ze home front? :)

Very well. Blues Toes prefer me in an injured and healthy state. All the better to perform husbandly duties like, uhh, vacuuming . What you don't see in the TRs is large number of Good Husband Points I have accumulated this summer and squirrelled away for winter.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Very well. Blues Toes prefer me in an injured and healthy state. All the better to perform husbandly duties like, uhh, vacuuming . What you don't see in the TRs is large number of Good Husband Points I have accumulated this summer and squirrelled away for winter.

I always gotta laugh when I see other guys having to earn Points to go do outdoor activities. Come winter, S is kicking me out the door because I am not fun to live with when I don't get my turns in. If I wasn't so good about going, she probably try to earn some Good Partner Points and redeem them to force me out of the house.

:D

riverc0il wrote

I always gotta laugh when I see other guys having to earn Points to go do outdoor activities. Come winter, S is kicking me out the door because I am not fun to live with when I don't get my turns in. If I wasn't so good about going, she probably try to earn some Good Partner Points and redeem them to force me out of the house.

:D

You are a lucky man and more likely the exception rather than the rule. Though I have to admit, I don't don't have to work very hard to justify ski trips when my wife is spending a month in Cuba this fall (without me). Bring on the early November storms!

Whether they are used for skiing or not, it is always a good idea to have some GHPs (or GPPs, if you prefer) in the bank. You just never know when they might come in handy.

If you consider yourself a "mountain biker," you owe it to yourself to try a fatbike. Or let me put it this way: if you think that skiing in the east is way more fun on a pair of 110 waisted, tip and tail rockered skis, and you are happy to deal with the compromises (or have a quiver), then you are a fatbike kind of person.

Lucky for me, one of the divisions of the company I work for is a bike shop, and we just took delivery of some shiny new Salsa Mukluks. A couple of these bikes have been put into the rental fleet, so I pulled rank and borrowed one for the weekend.

Utah the wonder dog likes fatbikes because he can keep up.


Another comparison could be that the fat bike VS regular trail bike is like snowshoeing compared to cross-country skiing. The fatbike is the snowshoe, a little slower on the trail but it will take you places other bikes can't go. After a warm-up on the Dog Walk Trail, I rode down the slippery old logging road near SBRHQ and followed a rough ATV track into the boonies. The bike cruised through the slime and muck on the downhill, floated over the marshy section and navigated roots and rocks like it was on an air cushion. Which it is: four inch tires running at about 10 PSI are very forgiving.

Utah scans the horizon while I take pictures.


The Mukluk took a bit of "getting used to." I had memories of riding my own bike in this same area and the first challenge was adjusting mindset. "I can't ride through that boggy patch... oh, wait, yes I can." Though the rims are technically 26", the big tires roll like 29ers, and just roll over stuff that would stop a skinny-tired bike, or at least require a hop of some sort. The handlebars were a bit wide for my taste but I soon realized that made a big difference in helping crank the bike around in tricky spots. Then there is the stability. The Mukluk 3 is a 2 X 9, and I spent most of this ride putting along in granny gear or one cog up from granny. You can ride slowwwwww and not fall over.

Saturated image of the saturated bog I did not ride across.


Blue Toes commented that the Mukluk "looks like the mutant offspring of a bike and tractor." That pretty much sums it up and is the reason I see one in my future. Our bike tech sold his blingy FS all-mountain bike and now rides a fatbike exclusively. He has no problem keeping up to the FS riders on the local singletrack. A lot of core riders are scoffing at these wacky-looking bikes but they are probably the same people that scoffed at fat skis, or at Gary Fisher and his pals on their proto MTBs back in the day. All I can say is, don't judge it until you have tried it. Fatbikes are a ton of fun.

The bike has quite the footprint.

Pretty cool toy there SBR !!  Looks like in addition to mudbogging , one could cruise some logging roads in the SNOW with that mudpuppy.

warp daddy wrote

Pretty cool toy there SBR !!  Looks like in addition to mudbogging, one could cruise some logging roads in the SNOW with that mudpuppy.

Absolutely. These things were first developed for riding on sand and snow. Huge culture of snowbikers up in AK and an emerging one here in the Hinterlands. I'm looking forward to testing it out on the local snowmo trail. On a weekday.

Very cool---i think that thing is badass looking

campgottagopee wrote

Very cool---i think that thing is badass looking

Haha, you feel pretty badass riding it. I almost thought I should have a gun rack or something, even though I don't hunt or own a gun.

This morning I just turned off the trail and rode randomly thorough the forest. It is just like tree skiing, pick a general direction and follow the rabbit holes. Good thing nobody was looking, it would have looked pretty strange: random dude riding a bike in the middle of the woods in no obvious direction.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

campgottagopee wrote

Very cool---i think that thing is badass looking

Haha, you feel pretty badass riding it. I almost thought I should have a gun rack or something, even though I don't hunt or own a gun.
This morning I just turned off the trail and rode randomly thorough the forest. It is just like tree skiing, pick a general direction and follow the rabbit holes. Good thing nobody was looking, it would have looked pretty strange: random dude riding a bike in the middle of the woods in no obvious direction.

Great, now I'm gonna have to buy one...why the hell did you have to say that

First trail ride of the season yesterday at SMBA.  Trails were in decent shape, only a few soft spots.  Ice still hanging on the shaded ponds. Beavers working hard on destroying the bridge.  Felt good be back back on 2 wheels.  My butt is sore.

Scotty- get things melting up in Wilmington

Nice Chris, I was wondering how the SMBA trails were shaping up.  In the fall I started skiing before I put my mountain bike away for the winter, now I'll have to make sure I get on the bike before the skis go away for a seamless transition between seasons.  I will prob hit Luther Forest after work one day next week.

Adk Jeff wrote

 I will prob hit Luther Forest after work one day next week.

Let me know when you're going. I'm in.

Luther has got to be primo- wanted to get down there today, just didn't have the time.

I broke my rear axle today crossing the road coming out of SMBA  I'm fat.

mattchuck2 wrote

Let me know when you're going. I'm in.

pm sent

Anytime I transition from one season to the next, the first outing of the new season seems to take more effort to execute.  I wasn't even sure I was going to ride last night, but at the last minute I threw my bike in the back when I left for work in the morning. I had checked out my bike and gotten my gear/clothing assembled over the weekend, so I was ready to ride.

The smooth trails at Luther Forest were perfect for my 2013 shakedown ride.  The trails are in great shape - firm and dry.  I had an hour to ride, and that's about the right amount of time to hit everything at Luther.  Nothing too technical there, so I could just let my tires roll and get reacquanted with riding.  I didn't ski the glades at Gore on Saturday, but weaving through the trees on Luther's flowy downhills Monday night was just as good.

No crashes, no blood, so maybe I wasn't riding hard enough, but there's a whole season ahead for riding hard.  Looking forward to weekly rides at Luther, SMBA, and out the back door.  Hopefully make it up to Wilmington this year too.

Nice to hear people are riding. We still have snow in the woods so trail riding is not in the cards for while. Suppose I could road-ride but where is the fun in that?

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 Suppose I could road-ride but where is the fun in that?

Obviously you're doing it wrong.Unless you mean road ride on a MTB - in which case I completely agree.

Noah John wrote

Obviously you're doing it wrong.Unless you mean road ride on a MTB - in which case I completely agree.

Finally, we agree on something!