SMNDFBRrrrrrrrrr

Saturday was a cold one with temps hovering around 16° for the start of the Saturday Morning No Drop Fat Bike Ride and it didn't get much warmer it at all from there, yet 10 brave or moronic, you pick, souls set off for a an almost 30 mile ride through the country side.




There wasn't much for wind, single digits, but not having it in your face definitely still helped to keep you a little warmer; it cut right through you if you weren't warmed up and riding into it, even with being properly warmed up you could definitely tell when you turned into it. Bombing down the hills was an eye watering experience to say the least, Garmin at one point showed temps getting down into the 13° range on some of the longer downhills; guess Garmin is affected by wind chill as well.


We did manage a few stops for regroups and barley pops but they were markedly shorter than usual or else the cold started to creep in, besides after about 45 minutes even the water in the insulated bottles had mostly frozen enough to make drinking near impossible so stopping didn't do anything more than extend the suffering.




It hadn't done much snowing yet, that would come later Saturday night, so the gravel was in near perfect shape although the washboards were a little more jarring than normal with everything being frozen. I probably should have lowered the pressure on the tires a few PSI compared to what I would run on a warmer day because there was little to no give in the frozen rubber.


Even met a new fur friend out there, he wasn't exactly friendly but not exactly unfriendly, talked a lot but wasn't aggressive, mostly just wanted to come say hi and make sure you didn't get too close or he'd go galloping away. I find that's the case with most dogs you'll encounter on gravel, if you stop and talk to them they are either super friendly or don't want anything to do with you anymore. Chasing is natural, you ride faster they want to give chase and try to catch you; unfortunately they don't have hands so their grab is a bit more painful but I've found slowing or stopping and talking to them gets them to stop chasing whichever type of  dog they are or at least that has been my experience. Someday I'm sure I'll find one that's truly a mean dog but I always keep the bike between me and fido until I find out if he's friendly or just wants to be left alone.



Never been so glad to be back in town and the nearness of warmth, cold weather gear has come a long way in the last decade or so but even it has it's limitations and we might have gotten a bit over confident in it's ability to keep us warm. Several of us were a bit chilly even with good cold weather gear, I was grateful I'd brought a second set of gloves because one had to live in my shorts for a bit when things started getting a little too chilly for comfort. Even the vaunted and quite good Wolvhammers let in a little chill now and again on some of the longer, faster downhills sections of the gravel. The equipment did what it was supposed to do though and kept all the fingers and toes in tact, I think maybe we just got over confident in it's ability and didn't layer up properly thinking we were good to go. To be honest it's be a few years since it's been that cold on a Saturday, it was a good reminder that layering is important when riding in the cold, an extra set of socks or a heavier pair of gloves as backup would have been nice.



A short ride down the Jamaica Trail and we found that warmth at the Cottonwood Cafe, food and coffee was good and the warmth was certainly welcomed. It's kind of a shame that Saturday was it's last day being opened, doors closed permanently at 8 pm that night. I can't complain too much though, to be honest Saturday was the first day I'd stopped by in the two years they were opened. It is the second small business in Lincoln to announce that they were closing before the end of the year or at least two I had heard of and knew about, still sad to see it go.

Next weeks forecast for Saturday has it being even colder with the high only getting up to 8 degrees, we will have to keep an eye on that and plan accordingly. If temps stay that cold then Wilderness or a shorter in town ride will be the plan so that we aren't ever too far away from warmth if we need it. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.