The weather outside is now at least attempting to be winter. Our forecast was originally calling for a foot of snow to finally fall here in the Cities, but as the week progressed, it ended up being moderate rain, followed by ice, followed by snow, now back to rain. A mess, in other words. I of course went riding anyway last night, and it was an hour of solid moderate rain, some freezing on contact, at 32 degrees (plus it was windy). A nice night for the Karate Monkey with studs. I stayed warm, but not dry I was wearing a full suit of "waterproof/breathable" outerwear, which no matter how much money you spend, nevers keeps you completely dry. The important part is keeping warm even when wet.
I rode my standard locale loop around the Mississippi River, and did not see a single other cyclist. I'm sure there were other out, I just didn't happen to run into anyone. If I had ridden the Greenway I'm sure I'd have seen folks. We're known in the Cities for riding in anything. I'd have posted a picture of the ride from my phone, but it was simply too wet to take it out of it's layers of plastic bags that were keeping it safe.
I may head out tonight on the Mukluk and ride now that there is a few inches of snow laying around.
Speaking of the Mukluk, I inadvertently raced on it last weekend. :) Why I saw inadvertently is that I signed up for an fatbike event advertised as a "ride, not a race", but everyone got pretty excited, and the pace ended up as very race-like for me. I had a great time pushing myself on the big tires.
The event was the inaugural Frozen Fatbike Forty, or FFF, held at Elm Creek Park Reserve in the Champlin, MN area. About 50 fatbikers showed up and took in several laps of a ten mile single track course through the woods, as well as coffee, food, and beer around a couple good campfires. I'm sure the event will be held again next year and end up seeing even more riders, as everyone was pretty stoked about how much fun this year was, so I'd recommend keeping an eye out for it. Much fun.
I'll try to get my computer running soon and post about Maui and all the fun we had there, but for now, stay tuned...
