All bike rides are cool, night rides doubly so. But the first night ride of 2009 was to be possibly the coolest ride ever, both figuratively and literally!
With an arctic front making it's way down the East Coast the weather looked perfect! Cold as cold can be. To make matters even better Todd decided that the best way to celebrate the first ride of 2009 was to turn it into a ride from Chez Todd rather than our usual haunt Patapsco. An inch of snow during the day and temperatures never moving out of the teens just added to the excitement.
8:30 and Todd, George and "Yours Truly" are suiting up for the off, balaclavas, mittens, heat pads and shoe covers all in evidence tonight, as is Georges helmet-cam to catch all the action!
The mercury is telling us it is 14oF as we head out (same when we get back). It's a short ride through Todd neighbourhood, disturbing the local dogs and then into open fields. The trail dusted with snow and ice crystals shimmers with millions of specks of light, reflected from our helmet lights. It looks like a dusting of diamonds on the trail. For a few seconds I can't think what it reminds me of, then a dim and distant memory surfaces. It has the same look as I remember from the dwarfs diamond mine in Disney's animated version of Snow White! Quite magical.
As well as being pretty spectacular visually this field section allows us to turn the pedals over quickly (all three on SSers tonight!) and to build some body heat. First few minutes of a cold ride are always a bit painful, aching/numb toes and fingers until the core temp gets high enough to re-initiate a decent blood flow to the extremities. By the time we turn off the field and head into the woods feeling is just about returning to the digits.
After an initial leaf littered descent the trail is hardpack which is great as it allows more time to get some heat in the engine. Soon however the trail just disintegrates. mainly horse traffic in this area and the horses have done a fantastic job in churning up the trail into a mass of peaks and troughs. Now frozen hard as concrete it's like riding over a stormy sea that has been instantly petrified. The effect is a bit jarring with the rigid fork! Other sections (especially the steep sections) are eroded into deep trenches that have filled with several inches of leaf litter, hiding any and all obstacles/rocks. Dispite the trail conditions being challenging (both climbs and descents made super-difficult by the leaf litter) the mojo is in full effect and we ride without mishap for over an hour. Then enevitably on a steep descent I tense up and over the bars I go. banged my face enough to remove skin from nose and knocked the wind out of me good and proper. After squatting on all fours for a couple of minutes to get my breath back and ensure the pain in my ribs is nothing sinister I wipe the blood from my nose and continue. At the bottom of the hill George is there to record my bloodied face on video then we head on.
After another half an hour (and another trip over the bars for me -caught in motion this time by Georges camera) it's time to head back. Group photo taken to record our frigid ride and it's back a slightly abbreviated route to Todd's where venison sandwiches and a hot tub are awaiting. Life is good! Moving from riding at 14 oF to a hot tub at 101 oF is interesting - and the frozen feet complain initially. But, after 20 minutes and two beers I am wonderfully poached, to the point where I have to drape my arms outside the hot tub to dissipate some heat!
Just before midnight it is time to say cheers to the guys and head home for part two of tonights adventure.
End of Jan I'm heading to Pa for a weekend trying out ice-climbing, part of the fun involves a camp out on Saturday evening. Last year when the guys went it was 19 oF when they camped! In preparation for this I thought I'd better make sure my camping gear is up to winter camping - I've only ever camped in the summer before where heat rather than cold is the issue. Got myself a new tent (delivered Wednesday night and immediately erected in back yard) so tonight was the night to test out my coldhardiness. At home a quick trip inside to use the loo and check the temp - confirmed at 12 oF - and I'm in my new tent with thermals on, fleece on and my primaloft coat (not to mentions ski socks and fur lined slippers). All inside my sleeping bag!
I bring a bottle of beer with me but too tired and cold to contemplate this and it's abandonned in the tent. I'm surprisingly warm and soon drift off to sleep. At 2am I'm woken by a strange chirping, a bit like a car alarm, too cold to investigate I lie in my bag trying desperately to keep my heat inside as I move to get comfortable. the chirpig continues intermittently for the next two-three hours slowly developing into a painful keening screech. in the end I determine it must be some metal structure groaning as it contracts in the ever deepening cold. By 4:30 am I'm not omy beginning to feel the cold but I need the bathroom too! Ain't no bloody way I'm leaving my sleeping bag though, so I spend a fitful couple of hours drifting in and out of sleep fighting the cold and the need to take a leak. At 6:30 am I decide enough is enough and I rejoin civilization and warmth (in front on the pellet stove). Experiment a success - the gear 9and body) are up to the challenge of cold weather camping, temp outside at 6:30 am was 10 oF and the temp in my tent couldn't have been much higher cos my abandonned bottel of beer was frozen solid when I retrieved it.
Oh the fun we have!
Cheers
DB
With an arctic front making it's way down the East Coast the weather looked perfect! Cold as cold can be. To make matters even better Todd decided that the best way to celebrate the first ride of 2009 was to turn it into a ride from Chez Todd rather than our usual haunt Patapsco. An inch of snow during the day and temperatures never moving out of the teens just added to the excitement.
8:30 and Todd, George and "Yours Truly" are suiting up for the off, balaclavas, mittens, heat pads and shoe covers all in evidence tonight, as is Georges helmet-cam to catch all the action!
The mercury is telling us it is 14oF as we head out (same when we get back). It's a short ride through Todd neighbourhood, disturbing the local dogs and then into open fields. The trail dusted with snow and ice crystals shimmers with millions of specks of light, reflected from our helmet lights. It looks like a dusting of diamonds on the trail. For a few seconds I can't think what it reminds me of, then a dim and distant memory surfaces. It has the same look as I remember from the dwarfs diamond mine in Disney's animated version of Snow White! Quite magical.
As well as being pretty spectacular visually this field section allows us to turn the pedals over quickly (all three on SSers tonight!) and to build some body heat. First few minutes of a cold ride are always a bit painful, aching/numb toes and fingers until the core temp gets high enough to re-initiate a decent blood flow to the extremities. By the time we turn off the field and head into the woods feeling is just about returning to the digits.
After an initial leaf littered descent the trail is hardpack which is great as it allows more time to get some heat in the engine. Soon however the trail just disintegrates. mainly horse traffic in this area and the horses have done a fantastic job in churning up the trail into a mass of peaks and troughs. Now frozen hard as concrete it's like riding over a stormy sea that has been instantly petrified. The effect is a bit jarring with the rigid fork! Other sections (especially the steep sections) are eroded into deep trenches that have filled with several inches of leaf litter, hiding any and all obstacles/rocks. Dispite the trail conditions being challenging (both climbs and descents made super-difficult by the leaf litter) the mojo is in full effect and we ride without mishap for over an hour. Then enevitably on a steep descent I tense up and over the bars I go. banged my face enough to remove skin from nose and knocked the wind out of me good and proper. After squatting on all fours for a couple of minutes to get my breath back and ensure the pain in my ribs is nothing sinister I wipe the blood from my nose and continue. At the bottom of the hill George is there to record my bloodied face on video then we head on.
After another half an hour (and another trip over the bars for me -caught in motion this time by Georges camera) it's time to head back. Group photo taken to record our frigid ride and it's back a slightly abbreviated route to Todd's where venison sandwiches and a hot tub are awaiting. Life is good! Moving from riding at 14 oF to a hot tub at 101 oF is interesting - and the frozen feet complain initially. But, after 20 minutes and two beers I am wonderfully poached, to the point where I have to drape my arms outside the hot tub to dissipate some heat!
Just before midnight it is time to say cheers to the guys and head home for part two of tonights adventure.
End of Jan I'm heading to Pa for a weekend trying out ice-climbing, part of the fun involves a camp out on Saturday evening. Last year when the guys went it was 19 oF when they camped! In preparation for this I thought I'd better make sure my camping gear is up to winter camping - I've only ever camped in the summer before where heat rather than cold is the issue. Got myself a new tent (delivered Wednesday night and immediately erected in back yard) so tonight was the night to test out my coldhardiness. At home a quick trip inside to use the loo and check the temp - confirmed at 12 oF - and I'm in my new tent with thermals on, fleece on and my primaloft coat (not to mentions ski socks and fur lined slippers). All inside my sleeping bag!
I bring a bottle of beer with me but too tired and cold to contemplate this and it's abandonned in the tent. I'm surprisingly warm and soon drift off to sleep. At 2am I'm woken by a strange chirping, a bit like a car alarm, too cold to investigate I lie in my bag trying desperately to keep my heat inside as I move to get comfortable. the chirpig continues intermittently for the next two-three hours slowly developing into a painful keening screech. in the end I determine it must be some metal structure groaning as it contracts in the ever deepening cold. By 4:30 am I'm not omy beginning to feel the cold but I need the bathroom too! Ain't no bloody way I'm leaving my sleeping bag though, so I spend a fitful couple of hours drifting in and out of sleep fighting the cold and the need to take a leak. At 6:30 am I decide enough is enough and I rejoin civilization and warmth (in front on the pellet stove). Experiment a success - the gear 9and body) are up to the challenge of cold weather camping, temp outside at 6:30 am was 10 oF and the temp in my tent couldn't have been much higher cos my abandonned bottel of beer was frozen solid when I retrieved it.
Oh the fun we have!
Cheers
DB
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