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
I got scared for a second when you were going off the side of that bridge! Good thing snow is soft huh 🙂
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!
We need a slow motion of the “plop” to compliment the slo-mo success !!
Hah! Yeah, Viv, I agree. I was disappointed that the tree got in the way. I really did land flat on my back.
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…
Hey, David, all my crashes are educational. 😉
Well just try to keep them to a minimum Griff. We wanna keep ya around for a good long while yet!! Lol…
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?