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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