An arctic blast of cold air moved in last night. It was -12F/-24C degrees when I got up this morning. I knew that meant one thing. Great fatbiking! A dip in temps like that always firms the trails up.
My wife and I made it out to a Sunday morning showing of the Star Wars movie. Weird going to a Sunday morning movie right after breakfast. Neither of us like crowds so we usually don’t go to opening weekends of popular movies. We figured light crowds considering the day and time, the frigid cold morning and the Minnesota Vikings were playing some big game at noon. All those variables provided a nearly empty movie theater to watch one of the most popular movies of all time. Us and twelve other movie goers. And we both liked the movie.
When we got home I putzed around for awhile and eventually got ready for a bike ride. My first stop was at my LBS, Twin Ports Cyclery. When I was in the other day the owner had offered me a chance to test a new product. He wanted some real world feedback on how well it works to see if it’s something he would want to carry. I first declined but reconsidered and went back today to pick it up. More about that on this blog when I get into mounting it up. While there the whole shop crew was watching a live streaming of the Cyclocross National Championships. I started to get sucked in, but broke free so I could go enjoy the snow conditions.
As suspected the conditions had greatly improved overnight. The trail was firm with less punchiness. The air temp was 1F/-17C degrees with a light windchill. An arctic mass of air like this usually brings intense blue sky with it. I have to say it was absolutely perfect riding conditions. Being outdoors in this kind of weather reminds me of why I love winter so much.
I rode a section of the Piedmont Trail system today. This was new trail for me. I’ll definitely be back out to ride it more.
Yesterday I saw two other fatbikers while out on the trails. Today I didn’t see a single other soul in over an hour on the trails. What happened to all those hundreds of new fatbike owners?
This section of trail had been groomed recently. It has some drifted snow on it from high winds overnight. But no tire tracks, only footprints. It’s gets a little cold and people miss out on the best snowbiking we’ve had so far this year. That’s okay, I like the solitude.
Happy Riding.
four season cycling 
Looks like it was a beautiful day and place to ride! I’ll have to try to get a cold ride in at Hartley tomorrow at some point between my dentist appointment and blood donation. I’ve got to try to make some part of my day fun.
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Might want to do the bike ride before the blood donation. You may need as many red blood cells as possible to ride in these conditions.
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Glad to hear you got out there in such prime conditions. I’m a huge proselyte for “regular” mountain bike tires too! Though there are more ‘soft’ conditions in which they don’t do well, there are still SO MANY days (and nights) in a given winter when the singletrack is plenty firm to support regular mountain bike tires. When packed this well, all tires are leaving only knob prints. Fatbike or not: no mountain biker has an excuse for not riding at least some winter singletrack!
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“Glad to hear you got out there in such prime conditions.”
I get out there in all conditions. Thanks for stopping by.
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That looks like so much fun! Nothing better then having a snowy,quiet woods all to yourself.
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Nothing better!
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😀
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