Video: riding some snow covered B-lines at Lebanon Hills

Many of the mountain bike trails in the Twin Cities area have harder B-lines (alternative routes through a section of a trail) that are fun to attempt in winter when they’re covered with snow.

I rode many of them at Lebanon Hills a couple of weeks ago and captured on video my rides on three of them: a wide and flat skinny in the X loop (success), the big bridge rock in the XX loop (success after 3 tries), and the rounded skinny in the intermediate out loop (all fails).

What have I learned in my winter rides so far this year? Fresh snow can be surprisingly grippy, even on rocks, as I blogged two years ago. Snow on wood is nearly always super slippery. My front suspension starts to gets sluggish at about 10 degrees F and is completely stiff at -10 F. The day I took this video it was about + 10 F and that’s what made the difference in my being able to get over the bridge rock this time, unlike back on Dec. 18 when it was -5 F. When I manual, I use my front suspension to aid with front wheel lift.

As for the repeat fails at the intermediate out loop log: an ice-covered log skinny is tough.

httpv://vimeo.com/84742525

8 Comments

  1. Doug Janni said:

    I got scared for a second when you were going off the side of that bridge! Good thing snow is soft huh 🙂

    January 23, 2014
  2. Griff Wigley said:

    Doug, I was a little freaked, too, as I landed flat on my back. But it was indeed a ‘plop’ in the soft snow. Whew!

    January 23, 2014
  3. Viv Jones said:

    We need a slow motion of the “plop” to compliment the slo-mo success !!

    February 11, 2014
  4. Griff Wigley said:

    Hah! Yeah, Viv, I agree. I was disappointed that the tree got in the way. I really did land flat on my back.

    February 11, 2014
  5. David Cobb said:

    You doing the ass-over-teakettle bit on the “park bench” looked pretty gnarly Griff. Just hope these aren’t educational videos, lol…then again…I’m one to talk!! Lol…

    March 8, 2014
  6. Griff Wigley said:

    Hey, David, all my crashes are educational. 😉

    March 8, 2014
  7. David Cobb said:

    Well just try to keep them to a minimum Griff. We wanna keep ya around for a good long while yet!! Lol…

    March 11, 2014
  8. Griff Wigley said:

    I’m up for longevity, David, but there’s something about being willing to crash (while wearing considerable protective gear). It’s an important element for my enjoyment of the sport. Pushing a little over my skill limits and up against a modest amount of fear seems to be a good formula for me.

    How about you?

    March 11, 2014

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