Ice-biking Lake Superior

A few weeks back I met up with a group of fatbikers on a Saturday and we rode out on the ice of Lake Superior.  Much of Lake Superior doesn't freeze up reliably but this was on Chequamegon Bay which is relatively shallow and also relatively isolated from the bigger stretches of this enormous lake and so has thick ice each winter. 

Most Saturdays the North Coast Cycling Association puts on these rides.  They usually start at the Coal Dock in Washburn, WI and head out on the ice.  There are constant cliffs and rocks that are rusty-red sandstone that bleed tannic acid-laced water that is also rusty red.

It hasn't been a terribly snowy winter here in the northlands and snow is maybe ankle deep in most places.  I'm not exactly sure of all the physics involved but there's even less out on the ice.  So whatever the reason for the thin snow the upshot is that you can ride almost anywhere out there - no trail required. 

Another boring hot cocoa ride

"And I, for one, have this idea that constant exposure to the ordinary is good for the soul."

John Gierach

Most bike rides taken by anyone are run-of-the-mill.  Hell when it really comes down to it most of everything is run-of-the-mill.  In the above quote John Gierach was talking about fly-fishing.  And, as I see it, his point was this: There are the famous, big-name fly-fishing rivers - and while he talks about fishing those, the kind of fishing he loves best is the everyday stuff.  You can spend half a day (or much more) getting to a really hot river but if you're really into fishing like he is you've gotta scratch that itch much more often than you can if you were to only fish in the "good" places.  If you only have time to fish on your lunch break or a couple of hours Saturday morning you go to the place nearby.

He's talking about fishing but, of course, he could very easily be talking about biking, or hiking, actually he could be talking about a lot of stuff.

For the last 7 years we have been collecting and boiling our own maple syrup.  We've had an odd winter (remember the warm spell back in January that melted my bike trails?) and I have been keeping an eye on a couple of things: the weather, and if more experienced syrupers are talking about tapping their trees.  People were saying they had tapped some trees and they were running so I decided to put in 10 taps myself.  It was forecast to get above freezing this afternoon and I wanted to have the taps in before then.  But I knew the trails were probably going to be rock-hard and wanted to go for a ride before they thawed out (oh, and by the way - I had a hankering for some hot cocoa).  So I had a couple of hours window this morning.  So I had a short ride that was virtually all on the rail-trail Tri-County Corridor, set up my woodstove, boiled water, drank cocoa, and headed back home to work on getting taps in.

Was today's ride an epic ride that I will remember when I'm old and gray?  Of course not - truth be told not much happened and it was kind of "blah."  But it was a quick, enjoyable, ride that got fresh air in my lungs, and hot cocoa in my belly.  If I didn't think this was a good time I think I'd need therapy.  This was a hop-on-your-bike-and-ride-even-if-you-only-have-time-for-a-quickie ride.  This was an ordinary ride that was "good for the soul".  

Ever heard the saying, "I ride my bike to burn off the crazy"?  That might be a little extreme, I haven't been able to ride for extended times (nearly three years) and haven't gone crazy (unless you count Arrowhead, which, now that I think about it, is nudging crazy).  But the world just seems to spin truer when I ride.

Porcupine-chewed limbs of a sumac.

Melting, Freezing and Hot Cocoa

It was above freezing yesterday and it got got down below freezing last night.  So that meant that this morning the snowmobile trails were nice and solid and fast (or in my case you can go slow and look around and not work too hard) It's supposed to get into the mid 40s this afternoon.    So in the morning was the time to hop on the Krampug and roll.  I'm not exactly a morning person by nature but it was my turn (Jenny and I alternate days) to get our kid our kid on the bus - so I was actually up before the sun was fully up (not exactly a big feat this time of year).

I loaded up stuff for hot cocoa, snarfed down a few biscuits and hit the trail.

I've said it before: rail-trails are yawners but I'm not on this trail very long before turning off onto some more interesting trails.

From looking at today's forecast I saw that it was supposed to get into the mid 40's today, and so didn't want to go smoking' out on the rock solid trails only to have them melt and then struggle all the way home.  So I rode out maybe 45 mins and then turned around and went back to the stream crossing where it's nice for relaxing and drinking hot cocoa (and protected from the wind).

As before I parked my bike under the nice big white pine.

Look close at the base of the tree and you can see my bike peeking around

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Hot Cocoa in the Snow, Deer in the Trail

The tracks tell the story.  Even if I was lucky enough to actually get going riding my bike (a major accomplishment in these conditions) the shifty snow would push me all over the place.  I've heard this called "survival riding" and I don't particularly relish it - especially when I don't have a true fat bike wheel set on.

2-7-17:

I first started biking in the snow back in '03 when I lived in Fairbanks, AK.  Most of the trails were ridable in the winter but there were still steep hills, fresh snow - or something that would force you off your bike and onto your feet were not uncommon.  

I raced the Susitna 100 that winter (in '04) and near-thaw weather (and a little above, it actually sprinkled a bit) made the trail mush and I ended up walking maybe 1/3 of it.  

In '09 I "raced" DDD.  The week before the race there was a big thaw.  Then it froze and the night before the race we got about 10 inches of snow on top of the ice that had refrozen from the thaw.  No one could ride - everyone quit.  DDD stands for Dubuque-Dyersville-Dubuque.  I was the last one to quit after walking more than 30 of the 40 miles to Dyersville.  

Also in '09 I "raced" the Arrowhead 135 where the trails were looking great and then the night before the start in snowed four inches.  By the end of the race (almost 40 hours later) I had pushed dozens of miles.

In '13 I "rode" the Arrowhead 135 again and my father-in-law and I were caught in a wet snow that put about 8 inches of new snow on us during the race.  It eventually got so bad that we couldn't even ride our bikes down the hills.  We pushed quite a few miles.

Again the Arrowhead 135 in '15 saw very near melting temps and sloppy trails.  While I was actually able to ride most of it, it was slow and frustrating.  

So on the ride today it was snowing hard and there had been little snowmobile traffic on the Tri-County-Corridor and I was having a tough time trying to ride much through the 4 inches of fresh stuff we got.  I got about 1/2 mile down the trail and pulled off.  Call me a wuss but these days pushing my bike (or riding but it's marginal and a struggle) isn't very appealing.  I've done enough of it over the years.  And so I fired up my stove, made my hot cocoa, packed up and attempted to ride the 1/2 mile back.  It had been snowing hard the whole time I was stopped - maybe an inch - and the trail had gone from barely rideable to near impossible.  So I got to walk my bike. 

I love these tires in the summer but wonder if something with a more aggressive tread would work better in loose snow.  I need to rebuild my fatbike wheels to fit this new fork (its not offset like the old fork was) so it's a little more reasonable to ride in this stuff.

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Sunset rides

One day recently I spent quite a bit of time on the computer.  The computer's right next to a window and the beautiful day was taunting me the whole time.  Finally I gave in and in the afternoon about an hour before sunset I got KramPug out, hopped on and went out for a spin.

I did a little bushwhacking last ride I was on and this got caught in my brake.  I was gonna pull it off but didn't because it's kinda cute, and isn't hurting anything. 

I have a Surly Pugsley and have loved it ever since I got it for Christmas in 2010.  This summer I put a new set of wheels on it: 29+ which if you're not a bit of a bike geek means 29" in dia rim and a 3" wide tire.  Until 5 years ago 3" wide 29er tires didn't exist - which is when Surly introduced a new bike platform (the 29+) and their name for it was Krampus.  So you stick a set of 29+ Krampus wheels on a Pugsley and you end up with a KramPug.  

I rode in the Susitna 100 back in 2004 and the Arrowhead 135 in '09 on a regular old 26" Gary Fisher with 2.4" tires on it.  All in all I've probably ridden hundreds of hours on skinny tires in the snow mainly because I loved to ride but couldn't afford a dedicated snow bike (and keep in mind that I started riding in the snow in '03 which was a couple of years before production fatbikes were even available).   Even though I've been "fat" since 2010 to me, having ridden all those miles on "skinny," a 29+ bike is a fat bike.  While it's much much better, floatwise (and in every other way too, as far as I'm concerned) than a 26x2.4 it still doesn't float as well as a true fatbike. 
 

taken the night before the start of the Arrowhead 135 in '09

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A new deraileur cable is in my near future.  As is a chain cleaning for that matter.

I was glad the whole ride that I wasn't sitting at the computer but was especially glad when I saw this sunset.  Nothing spectacular just...nice. 

Groundhog day sunset ride

Today's ride was a bit chillier than yesterday, single digits.   

When I rode yesterday the groomer hadn't been out.  But today the trails had been groomed and just a few snowmobiles had been through, mostly they stick to the middle of the trail and so there was a few feet on each side of the trail that were like riding on a sidewalk.  At the risk of sounding like Mr. Tough Guy truth be told I like it better when when they're not groomed.  Ungroomed trails are, of course, slower but when they're groomed its almost like a snowmobile highway.  Ungroomed trail are tighter/narrower and, in my opinion, more fun to ride.  Not to get all cheesy but I feel a better connection with the woods when the trail doesn't feel quite so industrialized.   Another factor may be that I first started riding in the snow back in '03 in Fairbanks, AK and none of the trails were, to my knowledge, groomed.  We just relied on snowmachine (that's what they call 'em) and dogsled traffic to pack them down.