A quick ride before work.

I haven't updated this blog for ages! Must be time for a new post then.

Yesterday morning I decided that a quick ride in the snow before work would be in order. So, out I went.

This leads to the first off-road section;

A byway, well used by 4x4s, which have compressed the snow to ice as can be seen above. On the tarmac climb I stuck to the icy ruts, steady riding on fat tyres works wonders although the rear slipped a couple of times. Once on the rocky broken climb further up I was reduced to pushing as the terrain became more difficult and thicker ice had formed where there had been running water.
Broken tarmac followed the climb, mostly flat, and I had my first off as the front wheel washed out on the slippery compressed snow. And then another off as the lane headed downhill...

At the end of the lane I turned left and along a bridlepath - no compressed snow/ice to contend with but deep soft powder instead;

Hard going, but in a good way. Not good fatbiking snow though, it wasn't firm enough to support the bikes weight. Through a gate and up a climb, stiff enough on a summers day but even harder in soft powder. Lots of pushing involved even after lowering the tyre pressures, but I should have known better as I've had problems on this hill before. Once it leveled out I could ride again;

The sun was just starting to think about making an appearance;

On the way down the other side I had little control in the soft deep stuff, resulting in another fall. At least the landings were soft. Once back on tarmac I decided to ride home as I was running out of time. Not  a pleasant ride, I'd dropped the pressures down from 5psi front 5.5 rear (Surly Edna/Spesh Ground Control) to 2 3/4 front 3 rear, resulting in loads of self-steer. I'm going to have to experiment with pressures on this tyre combination to see just how low I can go before the handling becomes too much.

Paul.