If you look at my pic closely you will see that over my nose/mouth is actually a fleece ear band. It is worn backwards and upside down. I also have one worn the correct way over my ears/forehead. Beneath that are two very lightweight balaclavas.

The reason for this configuration is that it allows breath to escape downward as there is actually a small opening below my mouth. It is sort of a roof effect created from my protruding nose. (SEE PIC) I have tried EVERYTHING and this works the best for me. The earband stays pretty dry since it doesn't touch my mouth. And still everything is sheltered from the wind.



It also even sort of works with glasses if you make sure your breath goes down and not up.

I have a voice recognition system here too. "Bailey sit."

Bailey is the coolest

(x-post from the forum i normally hang out on......)

Only being out for an hour and a half doesn't sound like much, but it's the only trail time I've had in two moths. The only dirt under my tires other than road crew sand. We Front deRangers have had relatively crappy winter, in terms of dry trail riding. At least in comparison to our norm. I figure it just makes up for the last few being nice enough to get a lot of riding in.

Dry air, frozen crutsy trail. It's been chewed up quite a bit, by hikers and bikers. The knuckleheads have been hitting it when it's been too wet and sloppy, turning it into a field of clumped up, artificially produced babyhead mudballs. Lumpy, in the less than 20F morning air. That, combined with sluggish fork fluid is giving my arms a workout. Time to stop a bit, and speed up the rebound a touch.

Half dirt, half choppy, refrozen snow greets the tires. Slippery, but enough grainy snow, and enough sandy slop mixed into the smooth watermelt areas to give some bite and traction. Flurries take to the air; once I'm gone, any slight traces of my being here will be covered. Anyone following later in the day will also believe they were to only one to brave the cold.

It's quiet. The sound of my breathing, the once in a while brake chirp, the crunch of work hardened slush being assaulted by fat tires. For a while, when still near the road, I can hear a motor doppler by every few minutes. No one identifiable scent in the air. Cold, dry air, combined with nose hair that crackles now and again. Leaves me only with the impression of mixed general outdoor smells. It's wonderful.

It's a short ride, only about an hour and a half. Yet it feels so good to have soil, not pavement, under my wheels that I can't imagine much better right now. I'm getting cold, despite my layering. Threshold reached, it's back down to the car, face stining in the wind. Eyes tearing a little, teeth with abitter sharpness, face taught and reddened, snot leaking down my face.

The aftermath.

A trip to the store on Saturday is about as much adventure as I need

I got out today for a couple of hours, exploring the town land trust property/state forest just a few minutes out my door. I'd seen the signs, but have never ridden in there. I found some good riding! The trails were a perfect sheet of ice in most areas, as I found out when I got off the bike to take the first pic. I fell on my butt immediately! D'OH! Here's a couple of pics.

A couple shots from a neigborhood ride last weekend before it warmed up. It was about -17C in the afternoon.

Gratuitous shot of my steed


On the MUP behind my house overlooking the valley

Some pics of the trail downtown:


The Chugach



The ride home as the darkness falls.



Mt. Susitna

Brilliant sun, 35F. Perfect winter riding weather here in northern New England.

Roads nice and dry.



Frost heaves are nothing compared to last year!


Lots of ice fishing today.


My intrepid ride.


Our local 'hockey arena'.

Nice Fat Chance


Pond Hockey at it's finest!

Nice Fat Chance

Thank's!

Here's a link to a flikr page. I am neither the photographer nor the subject. We had a terrific blizzard blow through this past weekend.

Tough going

This was the ride about three weeks ago. Our last real snow. Now it's sunny and dry in the 40's. Don't miss the snow.

commute1.jpgcommute2.jpgcommutebike.jpg

i don't know if this video fits, but i had to share:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGS7meXUCUo

Toronto Ice Bike Races 2007

(featuring yours truely!)


EDIT: whoops! that's actually someone else with a blue jacket and grey bike in the race, not me...

Anybody got more?

Yeah! I have some, and I`m dying to show them around! This was yesterday`s ride on a snow mobile trail near Truckee, CA. It wasn`t really very cold, which which turned out to be unfortunate because the track started getting really mushy by the time I got back to the parking lot. I wanted to get pics of a beautiful waterfall that I know is up there, but there was nothing flowing (need to wait for spring, I guess). Round trip was 17 point something miles, temps around 32F in the morning and warming. For most of the ride, I wore gloves, long johns and polyester "old man" pants, and my nylon shell unzipped. The rest of my warmwear ended up in the backpack very quickly. This was the first time I`d tried a ride of that type (snow mobile trails) and it was a lot of fun, but more work than I expected. If I go again, I`ll get an earlier start so it doesn`t start thawing out on me.

Hey, what`s the deal? It only accepted the last one and that came out dinky. How do you get more? Well, here`s another.
EDIT: Oh, 100K limit. But the second was only 90K and it still came out as a thumbnail. Hmm...

Those are cool pics! I used to ride around up in that area on my motorcycle, years ago when I lived out west. I recognize the signage.......

Nice pics.

Good to see winter riding beyond the standard "commuting in the slush" that most posters here are (cursed?) with.

Thanks for looking, guys. About posting- a search turned up a few threads that suggest the image should be a good bit smaller than the 100k limit because they tend to grow slightly (added info to the file or some such). I can make files smaller and that ought to kep them from turning into thumbnails, but I don`t know why only one at a time posts. I only get one "browse" box and I just filled the same box five times (on my first post), but only the last one loaded. Did I do it wrong? The attachment threads I found also say it`s possible to upload several JPGs in the same post, but I don`t know if that has changed since the thread was posted. Here`s the whole ride, if anyone is interrested:
https://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t...20Webber%20Lk/
Happy pedalling!

Some pictures from my century on Jan 1:





Same pictures but more info on my blog.

tonight, 3 hour ride

will try for daytime pics this weekend