17 km in 2.5 hours...minus 34 **Updated!**
 

Minus 34 and windy. I think the wind chill was mid minus 40's.
I rode 17.5 km and it took 2.5 hours. Snow was hard pack that kept busting through. Studded 26 inch tires are useless. A fat bike would have floated right over this Siberian landscape.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psvg7nuusg.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...ps4a6jtf1y.jpg

Nice, Nice !!

It's still faster than walking.

I while back I was riding along an unmaintained road that had blown in with snow. It was actually much easier to ride in the field than on the road. Windy here today but tomorrow I should go check out that road again.

Part of your problem is that you took the suspension fork off the bike. I would bet that you were constantly washing out the front wheel which made going harder. A rigid fork makes the tire bounce off of everything it encounters which throws you off line. That's not good. A suspension fork will let the front wheel find its own path and not deflect so much. Add in a rear suspension and you'll gain traction. A fat bike would handle the job well because the tires float more than dig in but suspension would help in lieu of fat tires. It wouldn't hurt.

The reason the fork is off this winter bike is winter use. The suspension fork is a hindrance in the cold. At -45 there is no compression and it just doesn't work in the snow. I've ridden both my hardtail and a full suspension XC and rigid on both ends works the best for my conditions. Its hard to explain how snow acts at these temps. When I go to the rockies snowboarding the snow is very different. You can walk on it. The snow here is like dry powder.
But I solved all that today. I bought a Norco Bigfoot 6.2. I can hardly wait for the weekend.
At least we still have two months of winter left!

17 kms in 2,5 hours... been thereabouts. My commute of 15,5 km has taken me about two hours at max, in winter with snowbanks up to hub level. The temp was nowhere near as cold as what you had to deal with though.

--J

Congratulations on completing the trip without dying!

Even with my fat bike I was alternating between floating and sinking on the wind blown prairie snow. I could have gotten a bit more float by letting air out, but having to get off an pump the tires back up is never much fun.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=437501

Hahahahaha!
Excellent!

Hey is that the same road?East of Regina going to Emerald Park?
That's the one I was trying to get through to the city on!
Anyway, I took my new Norco Bigfoot 6.2 out last night. It worked very well. The rear tire needs more bite though. I was running 7.5 psi rear and 5 front. I ripped through the sections that had me stuck.
It is going to be near the freezing mark this weekend and I am going to try and make it right to the city,

The snow at ski areas is walkable because they get out machines every night and compact it. Outside of a ski area, you can't walk on the snow. Even using snowshoes is difficult.

Not all forks are a hinderance at -45°. An air fork will probably still work...the shocks in cars are still functional. Changing to a lower viscosity oil would help. Or a spring fork like an old Manitou X-vert will work in any temperature. I have some experience with dry power snow along the Colorado Front Range. It's about all we get. I'd still use a suspended bike for dealing with it for the reasons that I gave above.

The shocks in our cars really don't work well at -45. It takes miles to warm them up and the tires are squared. And a bike doesn't have 3000lbs pushing it up and down.
The best suspension for these conditions is no suspension at all.
Now the fat bike rules!

Its Pinkie north of Armour road. With a little mental detective work yesterday I was able to figure out exactly where your picture was taken, looks like you were just west of the bend in the road where it crosses the tracks. I rode that way out to Emerald Park last summer after the wind storm. I'm guessing that road will be closed when the bypass construction starts.

Those gumbo roads without gravel get really nasty when wet, but smooth and fast when dry. I caked up my tires and chain last summer and ended up snapping off my rear derailleur. The day before that happened I came across a vehicle the owner had to abandon in the mud. They should be fine for a little while yet.

Yesterday I found I could buy myself a little more rear end floatation by leaning my upper body over the handlebars shifting more weight onto the front wheel. Tough on the arms though.

That's where I was. I'm going right through to the city tomorrow. I am thinking 2 hours there and back on the fat bike.

Since you are in Emerald Park there might be some decent fat biking terrain at White Butte if there is enough foot traffic on the path between the south and north parking lots. There are a few trails dedicated to snowshoeing and fat biking, I think they are marked as the ski club doesn't want people walking/biking/snowshoeing on the ski trails. I haven't heard from anyone that has gone riding there so no idea what the conditions are like. Since I'm in the NW I go to Wascana Trails instead.

Here is the map with the biking trails added: https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...65382029_o.jpg

Fat Bikes - One Bike to Rule Them All.

:)

I can hardly wait for tomorrow. Nice weather and a new fat bike. The snow was firm today because it got above freezing for the first time in months.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...pstha6wzbx.jpg

What a great day! Out on my new fat bike and straight to the road that defeated me.
I ended up at the same spot where some truck with chains had given up.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psvyeq2md9.jpg

Beyond this spot looked challenging.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...pssoqr28ts.jpg

But I got through. Those big fat 4.5 vee snowshoe tires worked great at the temp which was about 0C. Lots of grip.
I rode for a while until I got to this huge pile of snow pushed up in the middle of the road. I could only assume that beyond it was the forbidden zone. I played around here for a bit. http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psdekrr107.jpg


http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psigswfmop.jpg

Definitely the forbidden zone. Miles of deep drifted road. But the big fat tires just chewed through and floated right over.http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psyys4one2.jpg

On the way back I played around on these pointy hard drifts. Good fun. I was pretty tired at this point and it was about the 2 hour mark. Even though you are floating on top it takes some power to push a fat bike. I had a great workout. This is the way to prepare for the upcoming road race season. I was running about 8 psi back and 6 psi front.http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...pscy4ei55b.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...pszf1gd8bl.jpg

Lots of fun. Fat bikes are awesome. I waited to long to buy one.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psuf9zghqr.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psglt8htqt.jpg

Those rolling drifts are a lot of fun if you can find them and they are hard enough. I've never come across a prairie iceberg before.

Yes, this is my first prairie iceberg!
The conditions today were outstanding. No dry granular snow. Just firm sticky snow. I'm going over to White Butte tomorrow. But I would like a crack at one of the road allowances that led north from that track crossing. Massive drifts.

is that just a field with a powerline access path or is that an actual tar/macadam paved road? what is that giant snow-hand?

Fun pictures!

Its a dirt road allowance. Just a trail really. Used by farm equipment and hillbillies.