No Fat Momentum Today

Today was an odd day weather-wise, kinda warm, kinda cold, dark ominous clouds, sun, and new snow.




Thankfully there was no wind to drift the snow any deeper. I had enough of a workout climbing 2500-ft today. Of course as I increased elevation the snow only got deeper as I would expect.



The hard part was that the base under the new snow was not its typical crusty self, which made tires sink a tad more, creating more resistance, thus making forward momentum much more difficult, making pedalling harder, making my legs works more than normal, giving me one heck of a workout over my short 14-mile ride today.



I was disappointed that I had to turn around but I was trudging (walking the bike more than riding) through knee-deep new snow. Just a few days ago this same area was like a super-highway, nicely packed by snowmobilers (love those guys). The snow looked like it was only going to get deeper up further, so after deciding to turn it around, I sat on the ridge overlooking Oregon and the Grande Ronde River Gorge, enjoyed this beauty all around while eating some snacks.

Spinning the Fat

This time of year many "normal" people and countless weirdo cyclists take to spinning classes or, in the case of the purely stupid, spinning on a trainer in their garage or basement for hours on end. I once tried to spin on a trainer in my basement...OK I actually tried it several times, but the result was the same...yawn! Yep, those were by far the most boring bike rides I have ever done and I still curse myself for wasting time trying.



If I had to ride a trainer to stay in bike-shape through the winter I would most likely have quit riding bikes altogether and started drinking heavily, plus I'm sure I would need brain surgery to remove the stupid factor that made me keep doing it.



Long ago I began a path of self-construction in the winter with one goal in mind - to have fun and if at all possible ride my bike. I love winter, I love snow, and I love playing in the cold.



Yes, I'm an odd person in this world. Winter presents much more challenge with the cold since it simply will kill you in short order if you are not prepared. I learned long ago in my teens while exploring Montana's Beartooth Wilderness Area in the winter just how quickly fun turns to danger. After many lessons learned the hard way since I have found that I get high the challenge of winter activies.



This year I've taken a bike in places I could never reach before. Prior to my fatbike I was fairly limited in my winter travels by bike. Now I can make 30-miles fly by on packed snowmobile trails (I love snowmobiliers - they make some nice trails for me to ride on). 



Fatbiking has become my winter spinning class. I can not believe how much fun it is riding a fatbike on the snow.



All these years I've been missing out. Why I do not know, but moving up 2000' on top where snow exists much of time really got me started on the "need" for a fatbike.  While everyone else is whining and wishing for an early spring, I'm happy and praying for more snow and a late summer so that I can go spinning on my fatbikes all the longer this year.

 

Found my Fatitude

I, like many other fatbike obsessionists, celebrated the New Year with a fatbike ride...well shamefully I did a week-long fat celebration of the new year on my 9:Zero:7 super-fatty (the Fatback is waiting its turn patiently).



It was a fun-filled week of daily attitude adjustment. Long ago I found that biking is my fix for a bad-i-tude, however I have little motivation to make riding happen in the dark days of winter. So evilness typically surrounds me in the winter months.





However, something is diffent this winter season. I am finding that instead of diving deep through my internal darknes to find the motivation to ride that I am actually planning rides in advance and I am psych'd about getting on the bike. Plus, when I'm not riding one of my fatbikes, I think obsessively of new fatbike upgrades, and planng more rides!





All this new unstoppable motivation is the result of (yes I'll say it again) Fatbikes!!! My baditude seems to have morphed into a fat-i-tude. Those super fat tires have made me unbelievably stoked about riding the snow in my local mountains - areas I've never been able to get to in the winter.

I even got up at 4AM one day just so I could pedal up a few thousand feet of elevation to see the sunrise on top of the mountain...



...at first I was not sure I would see the sun that day since the fog was so thick riding up, but after about 2300 feet of climbing it finally broke open just in time for the sunrise...



...it was an unbelievable exerience sitting up there watching the beauty of new day start...



....the early morning views were breathtaking that day...



Yeah it was cold and it was hard work getting there, but I can't wait to ride the fat on some snow again this week.