SMNDFBR - Screw the Dew

Headed out to Branched Oak's Area 7 this morning from the SMNDFBR, I know it was unusually chilly last night but I was really surprised when I got out there and saw a few signs stating that there was a biathlon going on in the area. To my dismay I quickly discovered that there was in fact not enough snow for cross county skiing... at least I had the right bike had there been enough snow for a biathlon.


Not the biggest ride we've ever had for the ride with just three of us but we are in the thick of the Cornhusker State Games and the gravel race was also this morning.


I was hoping that the early start time would get us in and out before the heat of the day got a chance to set in but the cooler temps also brought a fairly thick layer of dew on the grass; unless of course it was just the remainder of the snow melting from the biathlon.


The dirt track was in really great shape actually but with really big tires comes really big tire problems, which is that if there is a decent amount of dew in the grass those tires pick up dirt in a snowball affect until is seems like the trail is way muddier than it is. While we were not leaving tracks, Jeff with his "normal" sized tires wasn't really picking up anything at all.



Gary and I decided that in the interest of keeping the dirt where the dirt belonged we were just going to do just the one lap. Jeff with his narrower tires got in a second lap before calling it a day. I would imagine that if a feller or feller-ette were to wait until noon or so the trail out there would be primo and should be great for next weeks Cornhusker State Games MTB race next Saturday. Short ride, short blog... thanks to everyone who made it out, both of you. :) It was still a fun time.

No ride next week due to the a fore mentioned MTB race. When we return in two weeks we are going to switch formats just a little bit and ride some long-ish gravel rides in preparation for the upcoming Gravel Worlds. We may or may not be riding some of the sections from last years route so if you have aspirations to do this years Gravel Worlds or even next years, these rides would be a good warm up and give you a chance to ride with a group.