Being flexible pays off.

Before leaving the house Sat morning I decided to call the Freemont County snowmobile grooming report hotline in case I needed a "plan B" for my big ride destination. The recording confirmed freshly groomed trails an hour north of me. I drove west to Horseshoe hoping to score good trails 15 minutes away but instead I found an unrideable windlown mess so I backtracked and headed north in search of fresh & firm corduroy.


I parked at the Warm River campground and rode north towards Bear Gulch where the grooming usually begins but turned off to explore the old railroad grade that runs along the Warm River. This section is never groomed but the cold temps left the snowmobile track 100% rideable and the scenery is gorgeous so I rode about 45 minutes past the tunnel before caving into my desire to find the fresh corduroy.






Although my main goal for the day was to get in a 5 hour training ride, the conditions were so good I couldn't get the perma-grin off of my face. The trail from Bear Gulch all the way to Hwy 20 was firm, perfect corduroy and I had it mostly to myself. The occasional pack of snowmobiles would cruise by and wave but huge stretches of time passed where the only sound I heard was the mild crunch of the Endomorphs on the cold snow. Most of the time while snow biking I live in the small chainring but on this day I gave the middle ring quite a workout.




If more people could experience snow biking like I had on Sat, Surly wouldn't be able to build Pugsleys fast enough.