JayP and I hooked up for a ride this afternoon with the idea that we would explore the snowmobile trail network in the Big Hole Mountains on the west side of Teton Valley and see if it truly is a viable option for the snow bikes. Holy crap is it a viable option! We blew the needle off of the fun meter today! We rode, and rode, and laughed, and climbed in our granny gears, and bombed downhill at silly speeds, and overall had a lot of fun while riding pretty hard for a couple of hours. And we barely scratched the surface of the trail network. There are steep climbs, steep downhills, rolling terrain, and interesting scenery. This network of trails is groomed by the local snowmobile clubs and they do a damn nice job. There was even some corduroy to be found at a main intersection.
There are easily enough snowmobile trails there to connect a few loops and ride all day long…or longer. It makes me want to seek out the local snowmobile clubs and give them a big thanks. There are even signs! Our summer trail network is notoriously hard to follow due to lack of signage. You just have to get lost a few times and figure it out.
We had perfect 18 degree sunny weather and moderately firm trails. The trails were just firm enough to be rideable on the Endomorphs at 5-7 PSI but were probably too soft to ride on skinnier tire.
2006 Susitna 100 winner, JayP, making it look easy.
Dueling Fatties
It was great to ride with JayP and bounce some gear ideas off of him since he has had a lot more time on the snow bike than I have. Look for JayP to rock it in this year’s Iditarod Trail Invitational. We geeked out about vapor barriers, breathable layers, lightweight tubes, rack configurations, arctic lube, and racing in the snow.Today's ride was like pouring kerosene on a fire that was just beginning to burn. I see some winter endurance racing in my future.
4 comments:
Discovering snowbiking is like discovering a whole world you didn't know existed. Wow, must be great to have the advice of Jay P. I've been going it alone and figuring it all out by myself.
logistics and thinkering are one of the many details I really enjoy of endurance self-supported type of riding and is really great when you have a bud that can really relate too and bounce things off of as my wife can only put up w/ my obsession so much... that was a good fun ride Dave, thanks I see more to come..
Jay P
haha jay P i love the wife comment because it's so true. Without these blogs to talk with other snow and enduro nuts she'd probably leave me :)
Wow...awesome pics and concept. Nice scenery too.
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