Hello,

it was 25F this morning as i left for my morning commute/ride. I was psyche because that meant that the trails would be usable as ice trails. there is not much icebiking left to do, 2 days before the close of the VAST trails, but you have to take what mother nature gives.

I am getting a little ahead of myslef though, first i have to rip off the 6 miles of so to the trail. the mud was frozen on the dirt roads in most places, but in the wet spots it was not, though not as mushy as it will be this afternoon.

the entry to the trail was mud, which is what i expected, but the mud was frozen. this meant i can ride over it without pissing anyone off. I expected through the river flates to be riding a 3 foot wide thread of snow and ice and this is what happened. As i enter the forest section of the trail coverage was fine and it is the quick kind of ice riding. frozen solid and thin. Anyway, as i moved out of the forest i decided to cross the corn field and i expected this to be very spotty, but it really increases the safety of my route. I was surprised to find that the corn field had good coverage. it was at that point that decided not to dump myself out on the road, but to keep the ice biking going. I basically veered off onto another trail that is a lot of fun. it loops around for several miles, none which gets me much closer to work.

7:15am, 30 minutes to get to work, still playing on the trail. i decided to get on the road and point myself as directly toward work as possible. I am between 6 and 7 miles from work. i flat a tube, Find a spot on the edge of the road with enough room and change that puppy out. change it in record time, get back on start down the hill right in front of me. I get going pretty good down the hill, before the back up tube gets pinched too. That's the problem with cartidges, you have to live witth what you get out of the cartridge and sometimes below freezing the pressure just isn't the same as "normal" conditions. Anyway, time to become a running commuter, just on the sweet side of 6 miles out. I could have grabbed a bus 4 miles or so into the run (as i kept my bike rolling along side me), but at that point i want to finish my little trek. You know it is monday when you have 2 tubes that won't hold air.

Anyway, it was a great commute. One of my last ice rides of the season, coupled with one of my first spring runs. if i could have done a cold water swim or a white water paddle at the end it would have been perfect.

Peace,
dave