Monday, March 2, 2009

Cold? Bah! Its time to ride! Pugsley's out and having fun.

Its chilly here in the hinterlands of Wisconsin. Normal temps this time of year should be near 40. Thats shorts wearing territory folks. Yesterday was maybe in the 20's with a nice brisk north wind, putting temps on the decidedly cold side.

So what did we do about it? Sit inside, curled up with a hot cuppa tea and a good book? Paint? NO! We flipped off Ma nature, escaped to Iowa and road. Off road. On super hard packed snow and ice. And we had a ball.

DSC_0365
We were all [all three of us] on Surly Pugsley's. Those 4" tired monster bikes that the creative minds of Surly have put out. I swear that thing is one of the ten greatest bikes ever made.

Dirt track.
That 4" wide footprint does absolutely remarkable things for traction. Yes, even on ice. Without studs.

yeah. the glare is ice.
Yes, you do have to be extra careful when travelling on ice, but it is utterly remarkable that you can ride on it. Even climb up hills. This bike totally defies logic.

DSC_0304
Its all about balance. Keep the bike straight. Keep the bike upright. And be ready to tripod it!

Speedway!
This snow was so hard, you could have nearly ridden a 28c tire and not punched the crust. It was SO fun. And very fast with an amazing amount of traction.

Mounting?
Sorry. Porn moment. The Pugs found a suitable cougar to mount.

In the end, yes, we all fell. We all did several 180* spins. And no one got hurt.

And for those locals wondering - Volga River State Rec Area.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Marty,

nice Blog... Cool rides in snow and low temperatures.

Keep ride!

p.s. I'm from São Paulo, Brazil. The more low temperature is 44.6ºF, more or less. :-)

Joe said...

Way to go Marty! Looks like a good time.

Joe said...

Oh yeah.... is there camping there at the Volga River State Recreation Area?? I'm looking for a place to camp with my son in August for a few days.

Head Honcho said...

Yeah there is. Standard pull in style sites. Not sure about back country stuff.