no sweat

...and towing toboggans around on snow packed roads and all other sorts of mental ****. Mostly while school was between terms and (duh) I didn't have a job.

I don't mind snow. I like taking a break from bugs. What gets tiresome is the increased aggravation involved in making work related **** happen on a schedule, extra work at home, extra maintenance and expense... all the **** that's invisible to kids.

fietsbob

Since wally world has one too , you dont even have to N-1 to N+1.

OldsCOOL

This weekend is a deer hunt and the snow is the heaviest for November than any of us can remember. Granted, we are winter oriented and prepared, it's just early and coming off a non-existent spring it makes for one big winter run together. I live in a small town with two very good bike shops, pretty much a cycling Mecca in our area. Love it, love it, love it.

bruised

As mentioned earlier....somewhere....I think: 'winter is fine if you have the right clothing'.

It's my first season riding in the cold and up until today I've been miserable. Cold feet, cold hands, mostly. But I think I've finally nailed it. Took a ride earlier today along the Bay of Green Bay, measured temp at 22, I'm guessing close to zero with the brisk wind blowing off the water. And I was toasty warm.

Now I'm enjoying winter (even though it hasn't officially landed yet)

Fat bike? What fat bike -

OldsCOOL

How do fat bikes do on black ice?

Gerryattrick

Bruised: those pics are a great advert for fat bikes.

bruised

Hmmm.... probably not so well

Although your chances of staying upright are likely much better than on a regular MTB or road bike. Versus a studded tire....I don't know.

I can say that riding the trail about a week ago I came upon a 7 or 8 feet long patch of ice in the center of the path - a large frozen puddle. It's location is on a fairly fast corner on the main Sunset Trail. There was no snow on the trail at the time so it was clearly visible and avoidable. It occurred to me that with a light dusting of snow over the top of the ice patch it could prove quite treacherous as the ice would be invisible. I tried to make a mental note of the location so I could slow down coming in to the corner at a later date, after snowfall.

That happened yesterday - the patch was covered over, barely....I didn't see it and I forgot it was there. I rode over it without so much as a wobble. I'm pretty sure there would've been carnage had I been on my 29er.

Anyway, I got lucky.

But fat bikes, in spite of their various quirks and irritations, are a lot of fun. Now that I seem to have found solutions to the clothing problem, and found an enjoyable bike to ride, it feels like a whole new season has been opened up to me! Cold and bleak, yes....but at least I can get outside and grab some vitamin D.

bruised

I was thinking to myself as I was riding around yesterday that in many ways this is almost perfect riding weather. I didn't see another soul on the trails (versus having to deal with tourists in the summer months), I was warm and comfortable. The ground in the off-road sections wasn't wet and muddy, so I wasn't wet and muddy either...

Fat bikes really are a blast. If anyone is on the fence I recommend trying to rent one for a day and seeing what they're about.

Last year our winter here in WI spanned pretty much 5 months of the year. That's too long to be shut-down from riding...

OldsCOOL

I'd posted about the lady in her 60s with the fat bike. My vintage bike friend (store clerk) was saying he talked her into it and last year was out on the open road regularly.

GravelMN

Do they make studded tires for fat bikes? If so, they might do OK.

I've got 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Winters on my winter ride and as long as you don't get stupid, they work very well on icy surfaces, even wet black ice. Don't expect to make sharp turns or slam on the brakes but if you ride at a moderate pace, make smooth turns and plan your stops, you can ride reasonably safely even on surfaces that are hard to walk on. My only wipe-out on ice happened when I put a foot down at a stop and my foot slid out from under me.

OldsCOOL

What PSI?

Ursa Minor

I just finished a 36 mile beach ride (round trip) on my Fat Tire bike (Trek Farley). The low tide made the riding easy since the sand was packed firm.

Charlie

Jinkster

I grew up in Central Jersey until I was 12...went back after the USMC for a few years...been in the New England states for Thanksgiving many times...even went to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls...been out on the ice spearing eels with my father on the Shrewsbury river...spent a lot of time roaming the snow capped mountains of Cali...have heard, found and then seen frozen waterfalls...and the wife and I have taken our three daughters to Maggie Valley sleigh riding several times as they grew...and fortunately for me?...they could give a flip about snow forts and snowballs...they make sand angels instead of snow angels...they've never been skiing but they love surfboarding, wake-boarding and tooling through the pines on a 4 wheeler...what I recall of the great white winters was?...

Jacking my car up to take my sweet riding BF Goodrich's off to put my loud rumbley snow tires on...with "Chains" at the ready in the trunk...only to wake up to a car that was buried by snow plows the night before (as I slept)...Frozen Locks, Ice Scrapers, Snow Shovels, Salt and Sand...Winter clothes that smelled of Cedar and Mothballs....Cabin fever, Lost Work (amplified by expensive heating bills) and Frost Bite...and who could forget the constant steam of clear snot running down upper lips and the pile of snow boots sitting in the perpetual puddle of water at all exterior doorways? LOL!

But yes...the pristine white beauty af new fallen snow was always breathtaking...right up until it turned to slush and mud. LOL!

Now don't get me wrong...it's not all sandy beaches and tropical dreams down here as we do have our share of chiggers, fire ants, snakes and gators but?...the only time I change the tires on our vehicles is when they wear out and I've never had a day where I said to myself...

"If I don't get inside somewhere soon?...I'm gonna die!"

And one huge difference I've noticed (that many don't for some reason) is this...up north?...it's a rare thing to run into someone well into their 60's that lived in cold climates all their lives that doesn't have arthritis...down here?...it's rare that they do...which leads me to believe that while the frozen north may be fun and beautiful to some?...those cold temps are hard on the human skeleton.

So see?...I was really trying to show some restraint and compassion on that first installment.

cccorlew

Is this too cruel?

mike625

45th North makes studded fatbike tires "Dillingers 4 & 5" - have been out twice this week on the 5's - they seem to handle any ice with little issue - only thing is keeping from getting over confident "don't get stupid".

mapeiboy

This is nothing compare to what Buffalo got -- 8 feet of snow .

OldsCOOL

2ft is still a good little thumping.