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

Add caption

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.