kaos joe

I have not, but what did give up on my last ride was my Skareb MTB fork. After 13 years of 0 maintenance (I hang my head in shame), it finally lost most of its travel in the cold. I got a chance to open it up today and was astounded to find the innards gleaming like new, just LOW on oil. 3 different grades of oil in there. I finished getting it back together tonight and it is back in fine fettle and smooooooth as can be. And now, likely to be too much snow to ride in.

XC skis are ready to go. Should be a nearly full moon tomorrow night.

kaos joe

Sometimes, it's not only acceptable, but actually praiseworthy, to carve ruts in trails

Beautiful day.

GlennR

Cross country skiing?

kaos joe

Yes. Snowshoes the night before. Desperate times call for desperate measures, eh?

In addition to doing it for fun, I had to spend some time using the snowshoes to pack down the backyard, as my poor elderly pooch was having a very hard time post-holing in the deep powder. Now the place looks like the site of a Bigfoot jamboree.

Going to head out with some MPBC people in the morning, not sure if on 'shoes or skis.

Spring will come.

GlennR

Finally there was favorable weather... 32*F.

41 miles at a easy 15.1mph.

kaos joe

Hats off (actually, hats ON)!

Missed the balmy 32*, but got into the woods for 14 miles yesterday morn, temp in the teens. A goodly # of MPBC-ers were out working off the previous nights club annual holiday party, where I failed to win a new MTB in the raffle. The trails were nicely frozen with only a few icy stretches on the GreenBelt south of the Old Country Rd. crossing. There is lots of blowdown on the Tower Loop trail so ride at your rear derailleurs peril.

The winter woods have their own special beauty.

kaos joe

Egad, took until the 20th to get a 2018 road ride in. Only 30 miles, but a start. Nowhere near as cold as it looks.

Steve B.

It was a nice day, but windy though. I got a 20 in, rest ride on a new 8050 Di2 system. Ooooooo......

kaos joe

WooHoo, The Electronic Age! My most modern drivetrains are 9-speed

Small group went out to Edgewood for a couple of hours on the trails. I made the decision that today was the LAST time I ride there. Dislike the trail construction and it is, to my eyes, hands down the ugliest natural environment I have ever seen. Ugh. My opinion only. (although my compadres felt similarly).

Steve B.

You need to expand on your Edgewood thoughts, bad choices to put a trail ?, too much twisty ?, why is it ugly ?

I know CLIMB has been expanding this area and it’s up to 17 miles of ST according to the site.

kaos joe

The trails have not been laid out for the ever elusive, you-know-it-when-you-see-it quality of "flow". Twisty is great. Those "features" consisting of a 4 foot pile of old tires covered with dirt between 2 trees 2 feet apart, eh, I can do without that. I'd rather be able to get up some speed and maintain it. Give me Glacier any day. Of course this is strictly a personal preference......

The "oak brush plains", (again a personal taste), are butt ugly to my eye. Trees stunted, gnarled, half of them dead, thick underbrush (place needs a fire), flat with no landmarks.......the piney sections have some charm.

YMMV!

Steve B.

I hear 'ya. I don't think Edgewood is true oak brush, I think it's partly that and partly a new growth mess of vines and ugly crap vegetation.

I think it's a recycled woods from the days of Pilgrim State. CLIMB has really been working to develop a trail system, mostly as it's a big area. I wonder if it's possible they are laying in too many black diamond obstacle trail features that interrupt the flow too much. Easy to do.

kaos joe

CLIMB has done an immense amount of grunt work in there, and the folks responsible deserve a lot of respect for it. IMHO I still think they overdid it with the humps and moguls, I guess because the area is so flat otherwise. One wonders how they got NYS to allow them to bury all those tires; essentially burying petroleum, no?

The area is definitely "recycled" from its time as a mental hospital. It's good to see it preserved instead of made into just more tract housing. Still think it's ugly, though!

justtrying

Glad to hear that I wasn't the only one that had to wait to get a road ride in. Last one was on Christmas Eve morning. I was getting real grouchy. Beautiful Day for it though.

qajaq

Wasn't able to ride on Saturday but did get in 47 miles between Sunday and and today. Since Christmas all I did was several hundred Zwift miles; so much that on Sunday it felt strange having to actually steer the bike :-)

Steve B.

I got in another 20 this afternoon, just beat the sunset, such as it were. Damp day but the roads had dried out and I got home early from a NYC meeting. Got to take these days when they are offered.

kaos joe

Short 30 miler on the road. Windy but not too bad, still not warm enough for my better half. Spring can't come fast enough.

kaos joe

Finally a beautiful morning, conducive to a ride! Bethpage trails in good shape and nicely frozen solid......some icy patches and frozen ruts on the GreenBelt, inevitable I guess. Got in 15 miles and we bailed just as it started to hint at softening up.

Rang the bell on Peck's Path on the way home.

Steve B.

Was out yesterday at BP, 10 miles and a cold hour. 15 degrees and blustery, which we felt even in the woods. My fingertips start cold (frostbite damage) then warm up about 20 min. in, then my feet start getting cold about 40 min. in, then at the hour it's off the bagel store !.

GlennR

I went out in late morning. Temps close to 40*F so i got 52 miles in.

Can't wait for March.

kaos joe

I rode straight after completing a 12.5 hr night shift, & unfortunately was too tired for a stop at the bagel place.

I've been using Exustar winter shoes that look like knockoffs of the Lake "gold standard", and have never been cold while wearing them. That said, today I had to repair a separating sole with Shoe-Goo.....

Likewise my hands have been very happy wearing surplus trigger-finger mittens from the Swiss defense forces. They have wind/water resistant shells and synthetic fur lining. They sometimes pop up with surplus dealers but not as often or as cheap as BITD; I paid $15 for 3 unissued pairs! MUCH warmer and more robustly made than the $65 P. Izumi mitts I threw out.

kaos joe

52, that is, fifty-two, miles, not km, but good old 'Merican miles, in February? Wow!

Steve B.

Got 25 in at 9 yesterday. Not as cold as Friday, downright warm at 45. Then it rained 2 miles from the car. 46 in the rain, wearing only a wind jacket, is no longer warm.

hotbike

Trudged along for and hour and 50 minutes yesterday. Photos of the highlights of the ride:
Glen Cove Rd. & 107 by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
I don't know if any of you noticed, but the junction of NY107 and Glen Cove Road has been repaved. There is now a useable shoulder , where a pile of dirt used to be.
Forest & Nassau by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
Down the road a ways, into Locust Valley. Nassau CC is on the right.
Buckram Road LIRR Bridge by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
Scheduled to be replaced by the 4th quarter of 2018, the LIRR Buckram Road Bridge is a tight spot, with no room for cars to pass while cycling underneath. Please be careful .
Planting Fields & Chicken Valley Rd. by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
Somebody was out having fun.
Chicken Valley & NY107 by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
Back to where I started, route 107.

kaos joe

Went out at 830am and "trudged along" for 39 dampish miles, on many of the same roads as the MetalSmith. If you saw a group of 4, I was the idiot with his sleeves rolled up. We dodged the rain and made each other laugh which is the main thing. Saw lots of riders out including a big group from Mineola we ran into at Sagamore Hill.

Not spring yet but I can smell it from here.