Two days of snow - part 1.

When the snow comes, out I go on the fatbike. I've been out quite a number of times this winter, but for some reason I've neglected this blog, a bit of a shame because I've had a few adventures, albeit pretty modest ones. So to get myself back into the habit I'll write a few lines about my riding last weekend.

On Saturday I needed to do a simple shakedown ride. The bike has had a couple of changes, one out of necessity and the other two for practicality.
Firstly, I killed my rear wheel before Christmas. A bearing inside the freehub broke up, making a right mess of the internals;

I found this out on Christmas Day. The last time I rode the bike, on the weekend before Christmas, I had trouble with the gears. The chain fell off both the chainring and the biggest sprocket, which at the time I put down to ice (I had just turned back on the Danebower Hollow bridlepath due to deep powder) or a bent mech hanger. This problem I put to the back of my mind until the 25th, when, being home alone (Dani was working) I planned to go riding. On said morning I quickly put bike onto workstand, had a play with the gears and checked the brake pads. Which were worn down. So, instead of getting out I stayed in and stripped the bike completely down. The mech hanger was slightly bent, but not enough to account for the shifting problems. Bottom bracket removed, greased and replaced, new lower headset bearing fitted, front wheel bearings greased. Last job was to strip and re-grease the rear wheel, only to find the above (see photo!). Ho hum.

I planned to upgrade the wheels anyway, just not yet. So when my local bike shop opened I had them build me a new wheel, with a red Hope Fatsno hub surrounded by a DT Swiss BR710 rim, held together with straight (unbutted) black spokes and brass nipples. Lovely, and about as good as a fatbike wheel gets unless you opt for carbon rims.

At the same time I fitted different bars, Alpkit's Confucius bikepacking loop bars. These have been hanging around the house for quite a while, bought as I fancied a go at bikepacking last summer which didn't happen. Anyway, they're on now, and I reckon that if I use the loop like a tri-bar it will allow me to tuck into a more aero position when dragracing along the sand during this years Battle on the Beach. We shall see.

The last new item is a Knog Oi! bell. Which is not only very stylish, but I'm sure will see plenty of use on those days when I happen to be on the Monsal Trail.

So, back to Saturday. My loop was just an easy ride around one of the local quarries at Dove Holes, nothing too demanding but a good workout for the bike. The unclassified road around the quarry is just a wide gravel track, but it does get a fair amount of snow which makes up for the lack of anything resembling technical riding. The rest of the route is a mixture of byway and bridlepath, joined up by the inevitable blacktop.

Here's a pretty decent photo from the highest point, the quarry is to the right;

On the bars are my pogies, Alpkit Bear Paws, which do a pretty fine job of keeping my hands warm and allow me to wear thinner gloves;

I'm running bigger tyres this winter, Surly 4.8 Bud & Lou. The extra float and traction is proving usefull.

Paul.