First MTB ride of 2010

Zipping down through a twisty section, photo by Dave

Holy crap it was cold today. I met Dave in Jamaica and we rode a few miles to the trail head at Cunningham Park. It was 27 degrees F, so cold that my camelbak hose froze repeatedly. I had to chew the rubber valve to break the ice and then blow it back inside of the reservoir in order to get any water. In doing so, I must have punctured the rubber valve and it dripped throughout the ride and froze to my sweater. The wind was relentless and unforgiving. Why in the world, I neglected to bring a windbreaker is beyond me, although I was wearing a base layer, warm weather jersey, wind vest, arm warmers and a wool sweater over top of the whole shebang.

photo by Dave

The trails were solid with a crunchy layer of ice on top. Our rubber tires rumbling on the frozen trails make quite a pleasing ruckus. Cornering was a bit precarious and I found myself unclipping and hanging a leg out in some of the turns. I managed to ride a couple of snow covered skinnies which didn't seem like the brightest idea, but I saw that the snow on them was undisturbed and so I knew there were no icy ruts to detour my tires off of the log.

Descending the only really sketchy descent at Cunningham, photo by Dave

Despite the freezing temperature and blowing wind (which really did blow) we stopped often to take photos of jumps and log rides and other tom foolery. One of the funniest parts of the ride was when we stopped to jump the log below. It's so much easier on your make-believe bike.

But we did jump a few logs with our real bikes as well. Dave's been getting better and better on his mountain bike. He only just picked it up this summer and now he's out there skying off of jumps and riding steepies. Thumbs up D.

Dave hitting a jump in the middle of some great singletrack.

I am loving how light my new F1 is; makes bunny hopping logs so easy!

You can check out more of Dave's photos at his flickr site here.

New Year's Eve Ride at Sprain Ridge

Well, the ride today was pretty awesome. I rendezvoused with Alex on the train and we rode from the Hastings on Hudson Station to the trail head. That was quite a miserable jaunt. The roads were slushy and cold salty water soaked our butts on the way to the trail.

I love my new F1. It handles great and I love the Lefty. Locking out the fork and throwing the chain on to the big ring on the way to the trails was a joy. I didn't miss the single speed at all today. The Lefty took up the hits, big and small, with ease and gave me a lot more confidence in the descents. (although we didn't carry much speed anywhere today in the snow)

Alex, just after wiping out on solid ice -ouch!

Two to three inches of snow made the riding a little tough. Alex went down on solid ice a few times today and I'm sure he's sore now! I took a nice dive over the handlebars in a baby-head strewn switchback. I sailed through the air, downhill and remember tucking my chin in just before my helmet made contact with a few big rocks. My left knee took a hard hit on an unforgiving rock/root and I have a nice lump to show for it. Getting up, I was shocked to see that I actually broke my front brake lever body. I couldn't believe it. I've never seen a lever body brake like that. (pictures in the gallery below)

Loving my new F1

We weren't' the only ones on the trail this morning though. We came across a herd of deer which didn't seem frightened by us. The woods were silent as large flakes floated down and the deer stood looking at us, flicking their ears nibbling on... whatever they were nibbling on. We also saw some tire tracks from another rider who was out before us.

Saturday at Cunningham

I thought it would be a great idea to ride on the coldest day so far this year. It was a great idea. 27 degrees meant frozen dirt and iced over puddles which crunched under our tires as we ripped through the singletrack at Cunningham Park. For being so cold, we all kept pretty warm. My toes were the only thing that were a little chilly, but they warmed up when I was off the bike, walking around.

Met a rider at the trail head as we were about to leave the park and he was nice enough to let me try out his 29er. I'm still not convinced that 29ers are where it's at but it did feel radically different and my interest is peaked.