Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Heat Wave

Yesterday afternoon the temps jumped up to 11 degrees so I grabbed the Hulk and headed for Teton Canyon. It had not been above 5 degrees for over a week so 11 degrees felt pretty good to me and it was my best snow ride to date. The 1:20:00 ride flew by and re-energized me for the rest of my work day. I am loving the FatBike and the fact that I can get outside and ride instead of staring at the wall on the trainer.

So far, my clothing choice is the hardest thing to nail down for snow biking. I usually wear too much and my torso & head end up soaking wet within an hour. I need to experiment with fewer layers and more breathable fabrics. The Moose Mitts on the handlebars are the shizzle! I can get away with only thin glove liners down to zero degrees. My hands were sweating in them at 11 degrees.

I hope to do the Susitna 100 or the Arrowhead 135 next year so I need to get my clothing options dialed in. Getting sweaty in the first 10 miles of a 100 mile race is not good.

I discoverd this short loop off the main trail that winds through a spooky forest.

The main trail is mostly in the sun with great views all around.

Can you see the moose?




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4 comments:

  1. ChrisJanuary 17, 2007 at 11:24 AM

    Awesome pictures! The clothes thing is important. I've been using lots of layers but most importantly zippered layers. Also make sure to start out cold with some extra layers in your pack. Then if you really need then you can add them later. Uphill I quickly unzip my jacket and the couple layers below if needed to dump heat. Then I just zip the outer jacket back up unless it gets really cold. Also too much on your head makes it really hard to dump heat fast so keep it warm but not hot.

    Do AH135 next year! I'm planning on it too. Looks like you got some great trails to train on.

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  2. DougJanuary 17, 2007 at 8:49 PM

    I like the pics also. My first Arrowhead is 2.5 weeks away and I still don't have the clothing dialed in. I'm wearing a lot less then I was last winter and still soaking my layers. The other day at -3F all I had on the top was 2 midweight Patagonia shirts, one a zip tee, and a windbreaker. On my head I had a Pearl Izumi head band and a light coolmax skullcap. Soaked them all in my 40 minute commute. I don't know how much lighter I can go?

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  3. DougJanuary 19, 2007 at 11:43 AM

    Dave, Your last name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it until today. I used to know a woman from Pittsburgh who moved to Jackson, WY and she married a guy with the last name of Byers. Any relation to you?

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  4. DaveJanuary 19, 2007 at 11:51 AM

    Doug, no relation. I married a gal from North Carolina...but my wife does work in Jackson, WY. :)

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