I doubled up on the snow rides yesterday as my GF was keen to ride her hardtail in the morning and then a buddy was visiting in the afternoon and got stoked to ride based on my GF's recounting of how well the trails were running. I'm not complaining. I had fun both times and we did a big snow BBQ last night to refuel so I had an excuse to eat a bit extra!
Posted by: fartymarty
What is that white stuff you're riding riding on... we only have brown slop atm (temp is mid teens in southern UK and it's as muddy as a muddy thing).
Back to the snow thing - as soon as it starts snowing here I'm out. I love snow riding - the few times of the year we get it.
Brown slop is our normal winter riding menu item. So this is a rare treat. Today is the last day of sub-zero highs. The snow will start melting tomorrow and I expect it'll be gone in a week or so.
We did get some fresh snow overnight so I'll try and get the crew out exploring a bit deeper into the forest and see if we can get some good shredding done.
I hope you manage to get some snow this winter FM. Even if it's just a dusting for one ride.
Enjoy. We had a good dump last winter so hopefully the same this year.
Still enjoying the Pipedream?
Posted by: fartymarty
Still enjoying the Pipedream?
Loving it. Best non-bikepacking hardtail I've ever ridden. So much fun. Handles everything I throw at it without a second thought.
Convinced my GF and a friend they wanted to recon Cumberland with me after last night's snowfall. I was a bit bummed when I saw a set of tire tracks on the logging road. Until I realized they never left the road and we could still get fresh tracks on the trails.
2.8" tires on wide rims did pretty good.
Conditions were better than I was expecting.
There was a lot of snow in open areas.
Trails were getting better for each rider. A bit more traffic and they'll be running fast and furious.
Deeper in the trees conditions were amazing. So much fun to ride.
I'm going to head back soon on a solo mission and go a lot higher now that I have a handle on trail conditions and I know it will be worth it.
Everyone was having so much fun snow riding we couldn't pass the local XC trails without riding a loop around the network.
We are officially tired now. Time for a nap and then a big pot of Thai curry!
Nice snow riding pics, guys, way to get out there!
It has been much the same here on Orcas Island (just across Haro Strait from Victoria) and I've been out a few times on the hardtail for some freshies. Celebrated the end of 2021 today with a ride up the local mountain on the full suspension rig and surfing down through about a foot of pow, awesome fun!
See if I can get these pics figured out again..
And from today (should be in the full-sus thread really but I like you guys ;) )
Posted by: michel77
Nice snow riding pics, guys, way to get out there!
It has been much the same here on Orcas Island (just across Haro Strait from Victoria) and I've been out a few times on the hardtail for some freshies. Celebrated the end of 2021 today with a ride up the local mountain on the full suspension rig and surfing down through about a foot of pow, awesome fun!
Wow. Looks great. I really want to check out Orcas Island one day soon. I'm glad you got out for some fun snow riding to end out 2021.
Posted by: Vikb
Posted by: michel77
Nice snow riding pics, guys, way to get out there!
It has been much the same here on Orcas Island (just across Haro Strait from Victoria) and I've been out a few times on the hardtail for some freshies. Celebrated the end of 2021 today with a ride up the local mountain on the full suspension rig and surfing down through about a foot of pow, awesome fun!
Wow. Looks great. I really want to check out Orcas Island one day soon. I'm glad you got out for some fun snow riding to end out 2021.
It's good riding here, and I'm happy to set you up with a spot here to set up camp if you want to! Mind most trails here close to bikes between May 15 - Sept. 15, best time for riding is late Sept/early Oct (the island is best avoided in July/August, too busy these days..).
Posted by: michel77
Posted by: Vikb
It's good riding here, and I'm happy to set you up with a spot here to set up camp if you want to! Mind most trails here close to bikes between May 15 - Sept. 15, best time for riding is late Sept/early Oct (the island is best avoided in July/August, too busy these days..).
Right on I'll touch base via PM and hopefully I can get over there this fall.
Posted by: michel77
And from today (should be in the full-sus thread really but I like you guys ;) )
I'm super jealous! Did you ride up Mountain Lake to Mt. Constitution Trail, or did you go up the paved road? Do they just close the gate and leave the road unplowed?
I tried to get my riding crew to pledge that if we got snow down to sea level we'd drop everything and take the ferry over, but it didn't wind up happening.
Don't feel too bad for me--I did get two snow rides in (on the mainland, not Orcas though) Last Tuesday's solo ride was shorter then planned because it was so damned cold even with thin wool glove liners under Windstopper lobster claws my fingers got dangerously cold. Realized I really made the right call when I was sitting in the warm truck cab waiting for my hands to be useful enough to drive and the pre-Hypothermia convulsions started.
Today's ride was a short one because riding buddies had commitments they had to get home to. Too bad because snow conditions were primo and air temperature was high enough that fingers and toes were toasty.
No pics of my rides either because they were on the semi-fat 6" full-boing Hammerschmidt'd maximum-inefficiency snow bike.
Posted by: WeTYC...
Posted by: michel77
And from today (should be in the full-sus thread really but I like you guys ;) )
I'm super jealous! Did you ride up Mountain Lake to Mt. Constitution Trail, or did you go up the paved road? Do they just close the gate and leave the road unplowed?
I tried to get my riding crew to pledge that if we got snow down to sea level we'd drop everything and take the ferry over, but it didn't wind up happening.
Don't feel too bad for me--I did get two snow rides in (on the mainland, not Orcas though) Last Tuesday's solo ride was shorter then planned because it was so damned cold even with thin wool glove liners under Windstopper lobster claws my fingers got dangerously cold. Realized I really made the right call when I was sitting in the warm truck cab waiting for my hands to be useful enough to drive and the pre-Hypothermia convulsions started.
Today's ride was a short one because riding buddies had commitments they had to get home to. Too bad because snow conditions were primo and air temperature was high enough that fingers and toes were toasty.
No pics of my rides either because they were on the semi-fat 6" full-boing Hammerschmidt'd maximum-inefficiency snow bike.
Sorry, I missed this post. We went up the paved road. They close the gate at the bottom but it was actually plowed so it was decent for riding up and I love it when they close the road, no cars and no people!
We took Cold Springs down, it was tough going at the pedally bit at the top but once we went downhill we could (mostly) keep some momentum. Once past the rock garden, the snow went to about 6" and it really opened up, pretty awesome!
Whereabouts are you at, sounds like you're in the area? If you can't get a riding crew together, feel free to hit me up and I'm always happy to get a lap or 2 in!
Sorry, I missed this post. We went up the paved road. They close the gate at the bottom but it was actually plowed so it was decent for riding up and I love it when they close the road, no cars and no people!
We took Cold Springs down, it was tough going at the pedally bit at the top but once we went downhill we could (mostly) keep some momentum. Once past the rock garden, the snow went to about 6" and it really opened up, pretty awesome!
Whereabouts are you at, sounds like you're in the area? If you can't get a riding crew together, feel free to hit me up and I'm always happy to get a lap or 2 in!
I'm down Stanwood way. Guys I'd come over with are on Fidalgo, so not as much of a trip for them. I think a lot of those Orcas trails have a pretty good gradient for snow riding (some up/down, some down-only....)
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