| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
12.04 miles
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Route:
Long Prairie & Stone Bridge Trail
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Time: 01:25:04
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Avg Speed:
8.49 mph
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Max Speed:
0.00 mph
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Calories Burned: 0
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Weight:
188
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Terrain: Off: Flat
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Bike: Cannondale Super V 1.000 XC Susp SS
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| Club: Ice Bike |
| Weather Conditions: Overcast. 24°. Windy. WNW 20-30 mph.
Almost Perfect. |
Ride Description: From Roland Olson parking lot. Wow! That was cool! Every kind of ice imaginable, including frozen snow drifts. Fun.
These tires are incredible. I never slipped on the ice once.
The winds were 20-30 mph but didn't feel that bad. The LPT and SBT's are fairly well protected from the winds. |
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After last nights freezing rain, on top of last weekends 60°F meltdown, followed by a week of sub freezing temps, there was a lot of ice everywhere, so I loaded up the Super V-1 ice bike into the Matrix and went over to check out the Long Prairie Trail and Stone Bridge Trail conditions.
Wow! Pure ice. All kinds of ice. Frozen melted snow, black ice, frozen snow drifts, smooth ice puddles and a very slick frozen limestone trail on the Stone Bridge section.
Out of the icy parking lot there was a section of frozen slush footprints. Some were at least 2 inches deep, making a pretty bumpy trail. Without full suspension it would have been a rough ride, but the the Nokian Extreme 294 studded tires performed flawlessly.
On some sections of the trail the snow had completely melted away leaving a deceptive "black ice" surface from last nights rain.
The only time I experienced any tire spin or slippage was when I encountered some frozen two and a half foot high snow drifts, when I spun the rear tire after breaking through the crusty epidermis of the drift. I only sunk in an inch or two, so it didn't slow me down much at all. In fact it was quite fun.
I came across two (separate) guys walking their dogs, one of them said to me, "You're living dangerously!", To which I replied, "Nope, studded ice tires. It's like riding on dirt."
The other dog walker just ignored my friendly greeting and looked at me like I was nuts.
I'll bet the dog walkers slipped on the ice more times than I did.
They were the ones living dangerously.
I wanted to take a few more pictures but it was so icy, stopping and putting a foot down would have been far more hazardous than riding. So I picked my stops carefully.
I wish I had gone a few more miles, but after riding with the wind a while, I started to think about how cold it would be riding against it on the way back. So I turned around after two and a half miles on the LPT.
But after going back, it wasn't that bad, so I thought I'd go check out the Stone Bridge.
The trail down to the viewing platform is very narrow. Riding the bike down would have been very difficult if not impossible. I started to walk my bike down, but left it at the first switchback. As icy as it was I thought it would be smarter to hold on to the rail and walk.
With Sue's retirement party next Saturday, I won't be able to ride on Saturday. (Unless it's a short morning ride)
So I hope I can get back here next Sunday for some more ice riding. Maybe I can get in a few more miles. It sure is more fun than spin class!
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