snow ride
(and my first real trail ride on my new bike)

roughly 30 people showed up for the MMBA annual meeting ride out at the pontiac lake recreation area. it was cold, for sure, and with the recent ice storms the trail conditions were in question. me and the friend i rode with went out to plra the day before to check out trail conditions and found the initial 100 yards or so to be well worn and without much ice. the majority of the 10 miles we covered were pretty much a good packing of snow with minimal areas of deep snow or icy death.

i can't say whether it was actually the bike (the tires really) or just my lack of skills, but there were certainly times where it appeared that i was attempting to mate with trees and the ground with various parts of my body. and for the most part, i was able to keep up with the pack.

at one point, one of the riders decided to tail me for a while to see how my skinny tire cyclocross bike was doing compared to all the other fatty tire mtbs. and of course it was during the really icy section of the trail. luckly, more than a couple times the tires threatened to wash out from under me, but some how i was able to stay on two wheels (although, not necessarily on the trail).

all in all, i'm fairly happy with the ride. i think there were times where i was riding more conservatively than necessary, but that's nothing more experience can't clear up.

and it was super cool to ride with such a "big" and friendly group. come march 2nd, i'm slotted to run a race across the drummond island ice bridge to st. joeseph's island (canada) with i don't know how many people. and because it's a race, i'm sure we won't be packed together like this mmba ride, but it'll be interesting none-the-less. of course, the whole "riding across an ice bridge" thing adds to that excitement...

i can't wait for warm weather again.