More like "Slowjack"

Today was a warm day with a high around 70°F so I left work a few hours early to ride.  I know the trails are still covered in snow and ice so I figured I'd ride the Hojack and keep it simple. Knowing the Hojack has been a mess in the spring of previous years, I've been wanting to try my fat tire on it.

Riding the road to get there was pretty darn boring with the 26" tire.   I longed for my geared 29er.  When I got to the Hojack I still wanted it because it was clear and easy.  Though really I knew this first section melts sooner and at least some snow and mud were yet to come.  Boy was I right.   It was a mental challenge to keep pushing to the end of the Hojack because the going was tough and I was only averaging about 5 mph.   More like "Slowjack"!

I took a bunch of pictures to show the variety of trail conditions I encountered:

Notice how it starts out nice...

but gets quite snow covered.

One section had inches of water for as far as I could see.

More snow.

Approaching the end...

I took this picture in an attempt to show my level of excitement for making the return trip.

Riding on the far left in the leaves was easier

On my way back I felt like I was getting better at riding through the snow and I found riding way off the trail was much firmer. Sometimes I could see my previous tire mark and avoid areas that I had previous sunk into.

I was getting quite fatigued by the end.  It was 13 miles much felt more like 20 miles of effort.  I expect to be sore.

Mac5 Winter Fat Tire Festival

Today I raced at the Mac5 Winter Fat Tire Festival in the Open race.  After my test lap yesterday, I could only hope the trail would be more solid and more rideable.

The Open race was the second race, so I showed up after the first race was just about over.  I was pleasantly surprised by a painting in the snow of a guy on a uni.  Ha ha... hey that's me!  How much more welcoming could they be?  It looks like he's wheel-walking. Nice!

The word around the starting line was that the trail was getting rather chewed up as more riders rode it.  Ugh.  My hope was that the fat tires of the first race would have solidified it more, but the opposite had happened.  Oh well.  I was paid and ready to go, so it was what it was.

Somehow I misplaced my sunglasses before the start but decided I could ride without them and the race was soon underway.  Like in my test ride, some parts were rideable and some were nearly impossible.  All of it was difficult.  When I did get a good section of riding, it wouldn't be long before some deep soft snow or a rut the width of my tire would trip me up.  The extra effort to get through the snow meant my heart rate was near its limit and when the going got even tougher, the odds of riding were against me.  I walked a lot.  Maybe even as much as 50%?  I'd feel bad about that but at any point during the race I could look around and see many bikers walking too.  Mounting was harder too.

The snow was too soft in places, too rutted, and riders walking on the trail just compounded the problem.  The trail grooming for this kind of race hasn't quite been perfected yet.  Still, it was certainly a good time and I appreciate the huge effort that Trail Methods and others put into it!

Thanks to GregFrancis.com and RonHerkensJr.com for taking photos during the race.

I was glad to have some good riding near the start and finish so people could see I wasn't just pushing my uni around the course.  Unfortunately since the trail was actually worse than yesterday, my lap time was slower and I could only fit two in.  But I got out, got a good workout, saw some mountain bike friends, impressed some people, and got a consolation prize of a balaclava which I'm sure I'll use.  My missing sunglasses never turned up.  Bummer.

I think this kind of winter race is a lot of work for organizers and riders, but it's a lot of fun too.  If the trail grooming could be improved we'd add even more to the fun.
Thanks again to Trail Methods and Mac5 Bikes for putting this together.

Mac5 Winter Fat Tire Festival Test Run

As mentioned in my previous post, tomorrow there is the Mac5 fat bike mountain bike race here in Webster at North Ponds Park.  There's a lot of snow out there but the race organizer, Eric Eagan of Trail Methods, has been doing a lot of work to make it rideable.  Still, I wanted to get out there and try it before committing.

This afternoon I drove to the park to check it out.  Eric and company were there doing their final work.  It's a warmer day so the snow is softer and that's not good for riding.  I brought my fat tire uni and did a test lap.

My fat tire undoubtedly enabled me to ride what I could. Every part was more work than dirt trail muni but the softer parts were much more difficult... nearly impossible even.  I found myself dismounting way too often than I like and sometimes it took about 10 tries to remount.  For most of the difficult parts I was saying to myself, "This isn't going to be worth racing."

 

However conditions will likely change by race time.  It will be colder overnight and in the morning so the snow should be more solid.  There are actually two races, each 60 minutes.  The first is for fat tires only and the second race is open to any tire widths, though it sure seems like a fat tire is required, though I don't really know what bikes are capable of.  I'm planning to ride the second race.  Looking at the current registration, there are few riders in the second race for me to get out of the way of, but more importantly, I'm hoping the racers from the first race will help flatten and solidify the course.

So contrary to my own thoughts during my test ride I'm going to give it a try.

My test lap took me about 26 minutes.  I did a lot more stopping and standing around than I usually do and expect to ride faster.  Also I cut a corner by mistake, but stopped and tried to figure out the right way.  So I'll likely do three laps in the 60 minutes I have.

Poor Conditions, Poor Me

There was a fat tire bike race today, the Sweden Fat Criterium, held at Sweden Town Park in Brockport.  Actually it was two races, a two hour "fat tire race" followed by a one hour "open race".  I had considered trying to join in on the fat tire race with my new fat tire muni and so I contacted Andy, the race director, over a week ago.  He replied and said I could join in the "open race", which allowed any kind of bike.  I ended up not going for several reasons: my doubts about riding in all snow conditions, the 40 minute drive to do a one hour race, the $30 fee to ride for an hour, and the one hour race not feeling epic enough to me, but maybe it would have been.

This morning I saw some of the race pics, video clips, and comments.  It got me excited and I kind of wished I was there, though I still don't know if I could actually ride the course.  So I decided to do a big ride today.  It snowed yesterday and more this morning, giving us something like 6 new inches.  I made a plan to do my Tour de Webster route, heading toward the Hojack trail first, with a backup plan to maybe only do the Hojack and Big Field if the going was too tough.

So I suited up for the ~15°F temperature and headed out.  The first leg on Phillips Rd was easy going.  The plow had just gone by, making the normally off-camber shoulder of the road more level.   Then when I hit the Hojack, everything changed.  I expected pristine powder and hoped riding would be smooth because it can be that way sometime.  Unfortunately a snowmobile had been through, probably in the night, and whether that had an impact or not, riding was borderline impossible.  I'd get up and ride for about 10 feet before my wheel started twisting around like crazy leading to a UPD.  After about six tries I decided it wasn't happening.  So I decided to head back toward home and just ride the snowy hard-packed neighborhood roads.

Unfortunately it seemed like every turn I took led to less snow and more slush and puddles.  At first it was just the intersections where the plow drops salt but then it was the entire road.  Was the plow dropping salt everywhere?  I didn't see or feel the salt except in a few intersections, so maybe it was just melting from the sun?  At 15°F I thought it strange.  In any case, the wet conditions took any fun out of it and I decided to cut my ride short and headed home.

Altogether I rode over 6.5 miles on the road.  At least I'm keeping the unicycle muscles working.
 

Oregon Maiden Voyage

I took my new Nimbus Oregon fat tire uni out for a ride today at Webster Park.  The temperature was just hovering around freezing.  The trails were well traveled and the snow was hard and packed.  We haven't had much snow recently.

credit: Terry "Unigeezer" Peterson

I found the fat tire helped quite a bit.  The trail surface was fairly even, unlike in the past when I've found the trails to be a minefield of frozen boot prints.  So this was not the most challenging test for the fat tire's shock absorbing abilities.  Though the trails were still more pitted than normal and I especially found it easier to roll over exposed roots.  The trails were slick and at times when I dismounted my riding shoes felt less secure than my tire.  The only time it slipped out on me was on an icy bridge, but I stayed on my feet.  I was able to climb steeper snow covered hills than I would have with my regular tires.

As could be expected, it's not quite as nimble as my other unicycles.  I found it a bit harder to stay on course when the trail was off-camber.  When climbing I felt a bit less in control.  Climbing may have also been more difficult because the fat tire makes it more close to a 29er than the 26 that it is.

I walked down a few slick hills.  I probably could have ridden, but I'm still defining my limits.  I used the brake a few times, but I really need a spooner.  A spooner is a unicycle specific part that is put on the brake handle to make it easier to pull.  Bike brake lever designers didn't intend for them to be used on a uni.  Without a spooner, I found it difficult to operate.

I saw a few new downed trees that will need attention some day.  I also saw some recently saw dust and fresh cuts.  Someone has at least been doing some work besides me.

Winter muni is always a bigger workout.  Although it was difficult, I feel like my recent exercising helped me a lot.

 I don't really like stopping to take video, but I forced myself to video a bit.  Here's what I pieced together: