Going snowhere

Saturday I hooked up with CB2 for what would be a memorable ride at West Hartford Reservoir. Itching to get out with forecasts calling for a balmy 20F high, I figured, why not? I left the Nokians on the Specialized (more on that later) and met him at 12:45. Not many people around, just a couple of idiots riding trails with 8 inches of crusty snow. That would be us. One of those idiots would be riding a FIXED mtb. And that idiot would not be me.

CB2, like alot of riders out there these days, does not like gears. I believe of the six or so bikes in his stable, 1 has derailleurs. I remember he told me once that he threw a compact on his road bike because his knees were bothering him. He then proceeded to never shift into the small ring. Go figure. I threw an 11-23 on my winter bike with the 42 up front as my concession to the gear inch madness.

Anyway, 20 feet into the trail it became instant slogfest. Did I mention I washed my bike before I left (stupid) and I was stuck in the big ring? By no surprise, my HR hit 185 within a few minutes and CB2 disappeared from view. He seemed to be floating over the crusty snow. He kindly waited for me and when I caught up I realized I was running WAY too high PSI. Not to mention, I don't think the Nokians are great in deepish snow. They're better for icy, semi-plowed roads which has been their primary use. I probably had about 38 PSI at the start and CB2 was running tubeless at 20ish. After a few stops, I was probably running around 28. I must also add that Alex + Bike = ~200#. And no, I'm not fattening up, my mtb IS that heavy.

The going was slow. There was a line about 15 inches wide from heavy foot/ski traffic that if you were able to stay on, was a decent go. If however, you lost concentration, you were putting some serious watts through the pedals to get back on or you were hikeabiking. I was doing both. In stark contrast to Thursday's ride, I was overheating.

We saw a few people walking and I couldn't help but think what they were thinking about us. I'm sure they must think that those guys must really love riding bikes to be out in this crap. We talked with one guy who passed us with his dog and he had the typical look of amazement/appreciation you get when riding your bike in winter. CB2 and he talked for a while about mtbs and because I couldn't help but interject that he (pointing to CB2) is riding a fixed gear. He looked at me as if I was speaking Urdu and he was on his way. I suppose I wouldn't know much about it either if I wasn't an avid cyclist. It is something to see: watching someone on a fixed mtb descend- in 8 inches of crap no less.

All in all, a great ride. I have no complaints. I think we got nearly an hour and a half in when I otherwise would have relegated myself to the trainer. Maybe.

This was actually one of the easier sections.