Winter single track and the cross bike ...

Nice fat Schwalbe winter spikers.

Yesterday was the warmer of the two weekend days at -6C. Being that today started out at -18C and is supposed to warm to -14C, I am extra glad I got outside on the bike yesterday. I planned a Bowmont play. I've been out there on foot this week a lot with Sante and it's gotten pretty slick, so I thought I'd try some single track on the Norco cross bike with the spiked winter tires rather than the comfy suspension ride on the fatter mountain bike tires.

Knowing Cheryl recently got some spikers for her cross bike, I dropped her a text to see if she'd be in. She was! So Sante and I waited for her to be available and we rode with some company.

It was a little chilly to start but we got warmed up quickly on the frozen bone-rattling trail. The going was bumpy over parts of the frozen footprints formed on the warmer days last week. My arms are still sore today! I had a blast though trying out the cross bike on the same single track I've been riding recently on the mountain bike. The big wheels rolled nicely over the snowy logs and the spikers held their own on the icy sections. Oddly, I quickly felt a lot more confident on the icy, hilly single track than I do on the sheer ice that forms on the paved pathways. We saw some of that too but it was no problem.

We saw a couple other cyclists. They were on mountain bikes. Full suspension AND spiked tires. That looked fun too!

The ride was good for my confidence on the spikers ... I have a good feeling now for what I can expect from them on the ice now. That should help make those icy commute mornings less of a white-knuckle experience.

Now I have to find some motivation to get on the trainer in the basement on this nasty cold day ... wish me luck. The pay off is good for when the outside riding is good but man it's way less fun to exercise inside.

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Later that day ... I took Sante for a walk and it wasn't so bad outside so I bundled up and went for a ride. It started out at -8C at my place and kept dropping the further east I went. All the way down to -16C. Brr! My iPhone even died from being in an outside pocket. But still way better than the basement. Outside is always better!

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