No Direction Home

There is still no real news about the future of the shop. The owner of the building wants a single lease for the entire west half. I just want the back. Not knowing truly does tug at the heart. It is so hard to tell customers and friends that I just don't know yet. It is even harder to tell myself the same thing. Looks like I'm going mobile. A veritable back-street gypsy.

Physical sick, yes,
but heart sick is even worse,
without direction

Perhaps a bike ride will help the sinuses and the heart. It's going to be cold (20 degrees F). The Snow Cats are on the beater bike, tire pressure is low, and 34/22 equals 40 gear inches. Bring on the snow.

I'm Cured

Cloudless deep blue sky
mountains white, patches dark green
frozen but alive

There is nothing better than a snow ride. Nothing. I rode the Shoreline Trail and up Green Canyon on the road to the second gate, and came down the lower single track. It was so much fun, I don't even feel sick anymore. My heart feels better too.

"Naw, I don't ride in the winter. It's too cold. You can't ride in the snow." I have heard this for years. Oh ye of little faith and even less gumption. There are a lot of people doing it.

All you need is the right set up. Snow Cats (no longer in production) are double wide rims. They make tires look like a U in cross section rather than nearly round. This allows you to run big tires at low pressure (10-15 lbs.) without getting snakebites, creating a very large tire footprint. As long as the snow is somewhat packed, you can ride it. Even a few inches of powder over packed is very easy to ride. Single speed and fixed gear make a lot of sense for snow riding. Speed is not really a concern and shifting is even less of a concern, so a 40-45 inch gear is good for me. Fixed gear allows you to instantly turn a rear wheel slide back into rolling friction (Physics 101). On snow, sliding friction is the enemy. Studded tires do nothing in the snow. Ice is a different story.

The right set up also includes the proper clothing. Today was about 20 and sunny. I wore a wool shirt, a light Bellwether jacket, ski gloves, balaclava, and a heavy wool sweater on the top half. I wore poly-pro long johns, jeans, heavy wool socks, and insulated hiking boots on the bottom half. I was a little overdressed. Oh yeah, hiking boots require big platform pedals. Forget going clipless in the snow. If it is steep, loose, or deep, you are going to be hiking anyway.

Great Trail News

The Bonneville Shoreline Trail is getting better. There is now an improved section of trail around the east perimeter fence of the new Logan City water storage/treatment facility. This allows users to cross the steel bridge and traverse down to the underpass leading to first damn. The old trail section above the water facility was really steep.