I stole two dawn rides in before the thaw this Friday and Saturday. It's 43 degrees as I type and highs in the 50s for the 5 day forecast;-( Trails are gonna get muddy.
Friday
Rolled out at 5:45 to 12F and meet JN at Landing. No wind so it didn't really feel all that cold.
Took Morning Choice instead of the usual Log Trail. Walked the bike over stepping stones and dipped my tooties in the creek crossing twice each, but the booties kept most of the water out. Lewis and Clark>Cascade>Ridge>Valley View Alternate (backwards--big tree down near the steep part)>Ridge>Rockburn Branch down the right-up the left-down the middle.
Conditions were awesome everywhere except Cascade and Ridge (from Cascade to the Ridge Bar you would've been OK with studded tires but me and JN weren't studly so lots of slipping and walking thru here). Everywhere else was icy/crusty but ridable. Lots of trees down and twiggy branchy barky sticky debris everywhere so it's really fun bushwhacking around saplings and under branches and over logs to try to get by to the trail clean. The icy sections are sketchy but all you need to do is loosen your grip, steer with your hips, and pedal smooth so as not to slip. Fixed gear is a big help for when the back tire spins out cuz the bike wan't to keep moving so it pedals itself and helps you recover.
http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/67854605
Saturday
Hit the trails at 7 today sans lights, 22F when I rolled out. Ran into PP out there and had the same conditions as Friday. PP had studded tires so he was able to climb more slip-out sections and go down icy chutes faster than I could. But he was also spinning a harder gear than me, so on the crusty stuff I floated easier. These differences helped balance us out.
We avoided the Cascade and Ridge Ice Floes (even though PP coulda rode em with his studs--I couldn't've). Renegade>Nacho>Belmont Woods>Rockburn Branch ^v^>Ridge>Connector>MC>Lewis and Clark>MC>Old Track>Log>Farm Field>Big Trees in the way in Belmont Woods.
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