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hard frozen dirt vs. softer wetter dirt

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hard frozen dirt vs. softer wetter dirt

Old 12-21-22, 10:20 AM
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rumrunn6
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hard frozen dirt vs. softer wetter dirt

def. prefer the frozen hard stuff

mounted up the studs last week & I'm looking for stuff to ride on
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Old 12-24-22, 07:26 AM
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9 degrees at sunrise. the dirt out back looks perfect. nice & hard w/ a dusting of snow. just enough to add ambiance. too bad there's too much to do today

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Old 12-24-22, 08:07 PM
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the dirt was good riding today. nothing like flypaper or quicksand



cpl ice puddles to justify the studs, hehe

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Old 12-25-22, 05:08 PM
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Need the ground to freeze and stay frozen and a nice little crunch to the snow.
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Old 12-31-22, 02:31 PM
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today, was a day of, wet, sticky, flypaper dirt
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Old 12-31-22, 03:19 PM
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Our off road trails are a soft muddy mess right now due to warmer than average temps and lots of rain. I just ride pavement right now until everything freezes again... hopefully cold temps will come soon and freeze everything solid.
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Old 01-09-23, 07:59 PM
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getting there. a few degrees colder please, to make it crispy & provide more traction. wet leaves &/or leaves w/ a little wet snow, makes things interesting on a gloomy day. no hard, fast turns



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Old 01-09-23, 08:03 PM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6 View Post
def. prefer the frozen hard stuff

mounted up the studs last week & I'm looking for stuff to ride on
Yeah, when I lived in winter wonderland, I'd never go out to the trails after work if it got above 27° or so. I didn't run studs, just 3" tires.
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Old 01-11-23, 06:34 AM
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I f ar prefer frozen to wet if there's soft ground when wet. It's much easier to ride on a hard frozen surface. The only time I don't like a hard frozen surface is on t he unpaved trails around here that are rail-trails and have a lot of foot traffic. Those deep footprints in the frozen snow or trail surface are like riding constantly over potholes. I think that's another surface perhaps better suited to a fatbike or a full suspension bike.

Btw, i don't use studded tires. I do lower the air pressure sometimes though to cushion the ride a bit and then pump the tires back up when I get to the paved roads I use to get home on.

Cheers
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Old 01-11-23, 08:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Miele Man View Post
The only time I don't like a hard frozen surface is on t he unpaved trails around here that are rail-trails and have a lot of foot traffic. Those deep footprints in the frozen snow or trail surface are like riding constantly over potholes. I think that's another surface perhaps better suited to a fatbike or a full suspension bike.Btw, i don't use studded tires. I do lower the air pressure sometimes though to cushion the ride a bit and then pump the tires back up when I get to the paved roads I use to get home on.
yeah I hear ya. been there, done that, don't like it. if it's thin melted slush over pavement, OK, cuz then I can get down to the pavement. hard frozen footprints, even shallow ones are no fun

last winter I had a wonderful ride on a snow covered paved rail-trail. it was glorious. recently plowed, thin layer of compacted snow. super cold, crispy cold. bike tracks & footprints didn't matter due to the unique set of conditions. I do use studded tires, but on this day they weren't required. good solid traction
this may look slippery, but it wasn't. crusty & granular, no slick ice




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Old 01-11-23, 01:20 PM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6 View Post
yeah I hear ya. been there, done that, don't like it. if it's thin melted slush over pavement, OK, cuz then I can get down to the pavement. hard frozen footprints, even shallow ones are no fun

last winter I had a wonderful ride on a snow covered paved rail-trail. it was glorious. recently plowed, thin layer of compacted snow. super cold, crispy cold. bike tracks & footprints didn't matter due to the unique set of conditions. I do use studded tires, but on this day they weren't required. good solid traction
this may look slippery, but it wasn't. crusty & granular, no slick ice




That's a nice surface to ride on.

Here are a couple of image from a few years ago. I took them for fun. It's a rail-trail that runs about 75kms. This day the snow was fairly soft and hadn't frozen yet and therefore the footprints in the snow weren't too bad. A different story once those footprints along with many others froze.



The above image cropped.


A side view of the bike.

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Old 02-28-23, 08:41 AM
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got lucky w/ exceptional hard pack last night. but it wasn't dirt
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