Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The winter riding season has officially begun

At 8am Sunday morning the temp on our back deck was 11F and the previous day’s snow showed no sign of melting off anytime soon…in fact, the NWS was calling for more snow to begin falling before noon.

The Niner has been winterized

Sunday’s 4.5+ hour ride in cold temps and blowing snow was a good refresher course in winter riding and I was reminded how important it is to keep your core warm in order to keep your extremities warm. I even had to practice the “warmup walk” a couple of times…when your feet get so cold that you have to get off the bike and walk a bit to get the blood flowing back to the feet.

And so the season of pogies, vapor barrier socks, chemical hand warmers, and ride food that is edible when frozen has officially begun. There will be a mix of riding snow packed back roads with studded tires as well as a healthy dose of riding groomed snowmobile trails on the FatBack. Oh, and a little backcountry skiing too. :) The Niner Air9 has been converted to “winter mode” and will probably stay this way until Camp Lynda 3.0.

Its very wintry at the end of Darby Canyon

3 comments:

Brandon said...

The bike looks good in "winter mode." What king of tire clearance do you have in the rear with that tire?

Stay warm out there!

Dave said...

Brandon - The Air9 has HUGE rear clearance. It will take a 29" 2.4 Racing Ralph. The Nokian 294 studded tires are pretty narrow so there is a lot of clearance with this tire.

Unknown said...

Dave,
I have been out on the hardtail quite a bit. I just mounted the Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pros this week end on the Scott HT. Holy traction, Batman, do they hook up. 361 carbide studs and 695 grams seems to be the ticket for my pre winter enjoyment. I also put the pogies from the Fatbike on and volla! toasty hands for a change. Give me a call if you want to do some suffering with a friend. See you Thanksgiving.