Ride Report Winter Wonderland 2013 - aka Froze My Balls Off On Maple Springs

Somebody posted yesterday with camera stills of snow on the peaks, so I figured what the heck. I knew the HAB Crew wasn't having anything to do with this craziness, so I headed out on an epic adventure solo. I had an early morning oil change appointment that allowed the weather to warm up a bit before heading out. I hit the trail about 10:45.

Julie said to bring extra gloves and socks, needed the gloves not the socks. Five Ten Impacts are surprisingly good snow shoes. I always try to block out the memory of that damn pavement at the beginning. It is even worse when your arse is cold. There were patches of snow even on the pavement, but it didn't really start to stick until you hit dirt.





It didn't take long once hitting the dirt for things to get really good. Still wasn't too cold at this point with the sun shining.





Traction was definitely sketchy at points, both climbing and definitely descending. I am sure the skinny XC Schwalbe Rapid Robs tires didn't help. It also took a lot more effort. I had stop for a break a lot more than my last couple of times up MS.





When you see stuff like this . . . Amazing.


Looking cold up there.



Some poor lady may be in the ER right now getting her fingers amputated from frostbite after building this.



Snow is getting thick near the top.



Some views at the top. It was so freaking cold at Four Corners. The sun disappeared, the wind picked up, and it balls disappeared.









Obligatory bike shot.



It was epic. Freaking cold, but epic. I couldn't feel a damn thing by about halfway down. Snow was melting and I was covered in icy mud from head to toe. Everywhere. More slop than a hog. I definitely could have used some leg warmers. My knees stopped bending by the pavement.

I get down to Motorway and run into Julie with dstepper and wizard. They were brand spanking clean. Not even a speck of dirt. They decided to stay clean and dry and take Motorway up. I must have looked like a sight.

 

Very nice, crazy, but nice. Adventure rides are great and nothing like a little snow to make a ride you have done several times (guessing from your post) an adventure. What is the distance and elevation gain on this ride?

 

looks pretty, but that ish must have been freezing.

 

My brother and I headed up as well. It was great fun but definitely a bit on the cold side. I even had a mike 1fg sighting which was cool. Let me know when you wanna ride Mike!!

 

Nice RR n solo ride. I would like to go there again if there was an invite. I was wondering where to ride until my friend picked me up to ride SJT today.

 

looks like you got the fish dialed in - how you liking it?

great day to ride in the snow. cool ride and RR thanks for taking time to post it!

 

Main divide past corners to motorway.

I agree it was very cold this morning at 4 corners. I left the house in Orange at 6:30 and was up at 4 corners about 9am. Was planning on heading over to motorway and down but to much snow on MD past corners so went back down maple. It was very cold. I like the idea of riding to the snow from the house until I have to head down hill and freeze.

 

It is riding great. Originally the fork was way too soft. Blindman_22 hopped on and it was too squishy for him and I have 50 pounds on him. It is doing pretty good now, though. At some point I would like to get a smaller ring. I am running 39/27.

 

You're a freakin animal running a 27/39 - I'm thinking of ditching my 26 for a 22

 

ROFL us Californians really dont know how to build a snowman that thing looks ehh SPECIAL!

 

Sounds like Maple was the popular route. Not many bikers on Harding. In fact only 4 total. It was cold coming down but heck I couldn't bitch about it too much. There were about 6-8 trail runners who passed me climbing up, and ran through all that powder. One dude was shirtless.

 

best call ever.

 

Lol. I am no animal. It is why you see me stopped on the side of the trail during long climbs. It was the stock build. After riding the 1x9 so long, a 27t is a nice change. I'll ride it as is for awhile to get my monies worth and then the lower the better.

On the shorter climbs, I look good. "You are a sandbagger." Nope, it's just that I am as low as I can go.

 

BTP good seeing you out there riding. I am a fan of climbing Motorway over Maple Springs or Blackstar. Another big plus is that there is never mud on the Motorway, bummer was no snow on the Motorway but by the time I got out there it was too warm for good snow riding.

 

Oh man, I would have totally gone. I didn't know what time everyone was planning. I got up late and hate going up ms by myself so I just stayed close to home instead. I was rewarded with a mud filled ride.

 

I started up MS around 8 am and started shedding layers even before the asphalt ends. I was actually sweating and wore just a vest and thermal top and no gloves by the time I hit 4 Cs. It was a slower than usual climb for me. Traction was tricky with icy spots and ruts in the snow throwing me off my line, but the near silence at times with the occasional crunching of snow underneath was very cool.


Watch showed 45.4 degrees at Four Corners.


I probably passed you somewhere on my way back down.

 

Thanks, maybe i can hit this Mon Tue.. !

 

wow Awesome guys, the snow pic's are awesome, how do you keep the hydrolic fluid from freezing?