Afternoon road ride...

Pacer with new wheels, computer, light

The Bees Knees in Morrisville hot cider

Horses and tasty french pony

Farmhouse between Stowe and Morrisville

Roadside shot near Stowe

View across to Mt. Mansfield

Totals for the day

I had a nice out and back ride today from Waterbury to Morrisville and back. Pretty crazy to be doing a road ride in February. I was reflecting today on how just 3 years ago I started riding a road bike after about 15 years of Mtn. bike only due to elbow pain. Having the bars higher has made all the difference. 3 years ago I rode the Onion River Sports metric century ride on a warm day and it felt like a killer. Now my first road ride of the year was a 40 mile ride in 40 degree weather with a headwind on the way back and it was pleasant. What a change in fitness over 3 years. Here is the link to the MapMyRide version... http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/70451650/

Speaking of change, I finally switched out from the stock Conti Sport Ultra's 28mm that the Pacer comes with and put on some Conti 4 season 28 mm. WOW! There was a very noticeable difference in both rolling resistance and that sticky feeling the old tires had when I would climb standing (I like to saw back and forth a bit). Very nice. Also switched over to a wired computer after going over 100MPH last year when my bike was stopped at a gas station due to wireless interference.

snow ride out to Turtlehead Pond

Matt on his new Pugsley

Bailey Pond

old rail bed west

  

oxbows in the winooski river

What an amazingly glorious day. Yesterday I took the day off of work and went for a great snow ride on the old rail bed.We rode out the rail bed toward Groton State Park. The conditions were almost perfect. The snow was firm enough for the Yeti with the Nokian Extreme's and so Matt and I were able to ride about 20 miles (which felt like 45 miles) on a wonderful blue sky day. We stopped several times to drink tea and remove layers and such. Matt had a blast on his Pugsley which he just got a few weeks ago. If I was on fat tires we would have probably stayed out longer but as the temps started rising up close to 30 F I became fearful of having a long walk through the snow pushing the Yeti so we headed back for some pizza from Positive Pie. YUM.

yeti and trail, old logging road

canine, evergreens

overlook

 

single track

Today winter arrived. It was -12 F last night and the high today was +3F. I started out for a back road ride and realized I was going to be too cold. I turned around to return home and go for a walk instead. When I was halfway down the driveway I thought, hey if I hit the trails it will be really hard work and really slow, thus plenty warm. And I was right! It turned into a fun ride and my thighs were burning like I'd just done a hard climb.

Sunny winter day...

classic view of lye brook

tracking

track makers

I can never get enough dog pictures

Took the opportunity for a short ride today before meeting the school bus for pick up. It was a glorious sunny warm day. Winter biking this year has been easy with the warmth. Spent some time investigating tracks. We also found an interesting track. Imagine an area where the center is all trodden down. Radiating out from and returning to the center were about 5 loops that extended out for about 10 feet or so. The tracks looked to be some sort of small waterfowl or maybe a corvid. There was no track that lead "to" or "away" from it. The terminus of each loop was a little tussock of grass.

The sound of snow...

When we got home from a long day out with the family I went out for a short ride with the K-9. It was just getting dark. Snow was on the ground. The moon was full. The road was packed icy snow with a touch of powder on top and gravel mixed in from the town plow truck.

This post is about the sound of snow. I tried to record it but failed, so I will try to write about it. Be prepared for some Car Talk style sound description. The paws of the dog alternate between ch-ch-ch and ch-ch as we change pace and his gait changes. The studded tires make a continuous shhhhhhh sound that changes slightly as I sometimes brake as the dogs investigates rabbit tracks or deer crossings. I kept the pace slow to take it all in.

I can't stop myself...

I can't help posting these photos. I have chosen to pretend that I hike/biked all the way up Mt. Lafayette in NH ( http://www.summitpost.org/franconia-ridge-traverse/156248 ) with my buddy Curtis even though I didn't bike at all, it was all hiking, so I can post these here. Enjoy.

Lately...sort of...

It has been a very busy summer work wise. Not much time for riding. I bailed on two very exciting rides, one of which started two miles from my house! Not lazy, just spent. I have gotten in a few short ones though and here is the proof.

 Proof 1 : bike gear

 Proof 2 : me in bike gear

Proof 3 : road shot

I also got the Yeti all studded out with some 296's. Now that winter biking has become popular there are all kinds of studded tires in Craigslist!! $50 for the set.

 Yum.

 Bike headlight/car tail light shot.

 New tail light. Very nice. Installs bungee style.

 Yeti with headlight.

 Lye Brook and Devils' Hill. It was Laird Pond before the dam broke during our spring flooding.

 Broken dam.

 Canine consuming frozen water.

 A wee bit of powder.

Trees and snow eh?