The End of March Maddness

This March has been nothing but pure weather chaos. Here are just a few of the conditions I've been caught riding this month...snow, rain (light mist to pure deluge), hail, sleet, thunderstorm, bitter-cold, sloppy-mud, dry, frozen, warm, sunny, and blow-you-backwards-winds. Riding is always an adventure this time of year that often results in some unforeseen weather related hardship during what started as a nice ride. I use to cuss my way home by the shortest means possible when caught in one of those sudden, soaking downpours, now I just laugh about it and continue on with the adventure.

Here are a few pics of my rides over the month of March...I got rained on during most of these.




Can you say Tailwind? Here it's called no effort pedaling...so you can imagine what the ride into this wind was like...


Hmmm...

Snow Tires?

Well it seems snow tires are still in season - at least where I'm riding...




But this little guy tells me that the end of the snow tires is near...


I've been seeing plenty of mountain blue birds up high - a sure sign the snow is leaving and spring flowers are near.

Until then I still have to deal with the snow in places I really want to go. Today I ended up "post-holing" (that means I was sinking (making post holes) up to my knees in the snow) for a mile or more while taking a "short-cut" back road. During this knee-deep trek I had one of those awe-inspirating ideas...I decided that some super-mini, ubber light weight snow shoes that I can strap onto my bike shoes would make for some quick treking through these spring time snowy places I am insanely driven to make it through. Hmmm...

Sun + Bikes = Happy

So many people seem to complain about the weather forecast being wrong that I thought today I would happily commend them for being wrong. In fact I think we should give weather forecasters a happy award everytime they predict rain while the sun shines all day...like this truly great day of rain you see in this pic...

Wow! What a day that was...two bike rides, one road, one mountain...9000 ft of climbing, 97-miles on 2-wheels, sun all day, smiles abound, tired legs, happy me!

Way to go guys...predict me another day of rain like that!

The George Cr. School of Muck-a-Muck-e-Yuk

Listen up, school is in! Most of us have been schooled in mud riding (typically not by choice), but there are few local schools of mud riding better than that of George Creek Grade. There are diffent kinds of mud: First, there's thin mud that coats you and your bike, but washes off easily. Next there's the ultra gritty mud that eats your chain, gets in your teeth, shreds your eyes, and Lord help you if you have rim brakes because when you get home the rims will be junk. Finally there's the kind of mud found on George Cr. Grade - it sticks better than super-glue and water will not wash it off...and yes it bonds to every thing it globs onto and ruins every thing... sunglasses have no chance and clothing...well it takes many washings sometimes to remove to poop-looking stain on your hind-end. In addition (yes there's more) the George Cr. mud eats chains in seconds, reduces rim sidewalls to paper thin thickness with rim brakes, and takes a chisel or at least 8-10,000 miles of riding rough terrain to get it to finally leave your frame.

A few local riders (Corrie and Doug) found out the hard way recently and I'm sure they are now aware that you just don't go treking up George Cr after there's been a bit of moisture. There is an exception of course...cold, frozen ground. While Corrie and Doug are still chiseling the George Creek mud off their bikes from this last weekend, today's ride up presented no mud problem.

I could see where they had stuggled through the ultra muck-a-muck-e-yuk, sorry, but I was snickering some because several years ago I had done the same thing (you can read Corrie speak his mind on this here--> click). Today the ground was quite firm after some recent cool weather, but as soon as it warms a bit you can bet the gumbo-bike-destroying-muck will be back.

Here's the proof - a pic of my tire...hmmm clean...

After finishing George Creek mud-free, I decided to zip over to Hellsgate State Park for a few loops - overall it was a cool day, but the bright sun made up for it.

Muck-a-muck-e-yuk!!!

Spring seems to have come...I base this not on the return of the Robins who mysteriously started showing up here in mid-January this year, but on seeing the first trees bud and ultimately the first blooming flowers.

Along with spring comes mixed weather (snow, rain, ice, melting...etc.) which typically means you will end up with mud on your face during any off-pave riding.


It can be challenging to ride off-pave and off-road this time of year since the once frozen-firm trails and roads are now wet and soft, which equals tires sinking into the terra firma or in this case terra soft-i-osis-muck-a-muck-e-yuk, which means a huge increase in pedaling effort to maintain forward momentum (yes you now have to pedal downhill just to overcome the increased resistance and keep forward progress) and inevitably you will, if not careful in choosing your riding route, end up with muck-a-muck-e-yuk on everything. And yes I somehow dirt (mud) riding way more fun than road (yawn) riding anytime.

WALL-E???

No...

A short while back I received a new set of bike lights from Oz (Australia) made by a company called Ay Up! They kind of remind me of the Disney Pixar character Wall-E. The company name Ay Up (I'm informed by those always, marginally dependable internet definition web sites) is a greeting meaning something like hello or hey what's up...hmmm?

The lights are ultra small, ultra light (you can mount a light and 3+ hr battery on your helmet...did I mention small?), and best of all they light up the night so well that my night riding is as fast as any day ride.

It takes a lot to impress me (not really) and when it comes to the typical bike light and manufacturer's claims I have not been impressed with the product vs. the exaggerated claims. But these Ay Up lights got me a bit giddy when I lit one up out of the box and could see all the way across our 5-acre backyard pasture with ease. Another point about Ay Up, I e-mailed these guys with a question and had an answer in less than 5-minutes...impressive to say the least. Can you say SOLD? I can and I own a set of these lights and now I see better than ever riding into the night.

Summer night rides are on my list of fun this year. The overall plan is when the daytime temps are hitting 100+ I'm planning on starting out on a late evening ride into the coolness of the night. Of course anyone is welcome to come along.

Team Fatty - A Worthy Cause

I got mine, a Fat Cyclist - Twin Six jersey that is. This jersey is hard to come by, highly sought and many have desire to own. Why? Because the jersey represents and shows support for both a single human being battling cancer and a worthy cause, cancer research. Some things are worth fighting for - Susan and cancer research are it.

I regularly contribute small donations to various cancer efforts, especially those that are related to cycling somehow. I am picky about the charity I send money to since I need to have trust that the money is going to the cause and not lining some pig's pockets along the way. The Fat Cyclist has become one of my favorite cancer charity efforts. Elden (the Fat Cyclist) was been spearheading a very successful cancer charity drive in association with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Elden's has a direct link to cancer, his wife Susan has metastatic breast cancer at this time. The Fat Cyclist has rallied huge numbers of people (mostly cyclists) through his web site and by raffeling off cycling related items.


Recently Twin Six offered 1/2 of their website's income for a single day to the Fat Cyclist's effort and Twin Six offered several rare jersey's like the one I got, which sold out in the first few hours I noticed. Twin Six sold over $16,000 that day, which means they contibuted over $8000...what a great company!

You can donate to Team Fatty's effort through the Lance Armstrong Foundation here--> Click to Donate for Team Fatty

The Winter Rides Continue

My winter riding continues...I am riding as much as possible between providing care for the young 96-yr old Grampa in Grangeville, work, and everyday life stuff. I have developed a real passion for riding around Grangeville with its clean air, cool views, and huge number of options for a different ride any given day.
At home I am finding I have much less motivation to ride after being in Grangeville. This is partially due to a discovery made after riding so much outside the Lewis-Clark Valley...it seems that deep breathing all the filth spewing from the local paper mill and such is causing me breathing issues that I do not seem to have when I ride beyond the valley. I've noticed it enough to motivate me to start looking at housing elsewhere.
Riding one of my steel single-speeds continues to be my choice for pegging my fun-o-rama meter at this time...Just to be sure I was not missing out on something, I went out on a geared road-bike the other day only to find it beyond boring except when I ran into Cori and rode with him up Evans Road at a rather chipper pace. Cori definitely has some GO in him at this time, so beware all.

Winter Riding Passion

I have a love of riding in the winter on snow-packed roads. It's just so peaceful riding my single-speed (SS) and the SS is the best option anytime in the winter...no shifting gears to mess up, gunk up, or ice up.

From 20090130_Grangeville

Lately I've been spending some quality time caring for my Grampa (a real cool 96-yr old guy) living up in Grangeville, ID. Grangeville has some super nice places ride that I have been taking advantage of as much as possible. Many of the locals have been looking at me with rather large, disbelieving eyes...they're getting use to me I think and they're all quite friendly.

From 20090130_Grangeville

Below is a ride I did on a day last week when the temp was a slightly cool 8-degrees outside. There was no wind and the sun was so nice, while the snow under the tires was crunchy as I rode some 27-miles. I was toasty warm in my layers, wool, and Lake winter shoes...

From 20090130_Grangeville

From 20090130_Grangeville