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Twenty miles on this beast yesterday and 20 miles again today. It was 0 degrees Fahrenheit when I did the AM 10 miles today. It was tough because it snowed about two inches last night so it was soft. I got the usual sore aching freezing eyeballs and an ice cream headache until I warmed up. The PM ten miles was easier as it was 20 F and the snow was plowed down to the ice. Notten else ta do as it’s too cold in my shop to work on bike projects. Since January 1st I have ridden 390 miles on plowed gravel roads. I have a 75 year old friend that has a lot more miles than I do. I started him biking and created a monster. I’m also 75 and we have been friends since childhood. I think his goal is to compete with me but I can’t keep up. He beat me pretty bad in 2020.
+3 F this morning and no overnight snow. It should be rock hard snow riding today. I’ll wait about two hours for it to warm up some and try for ten miles.
 
Nearly got in a dust up with a guy on the trails while out snowshoeing. Gotta focus on the point of the excursion.
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However, I'm forced to admit that the idea of a guy on snowshoes fighting a guy on x county skis is pretty amusing. I'm sure my kids would have loved watching it...
 
How I spent much of my day yesterday. 31.4 miles (50+km). It was a chilly 29F when I started, and 73F when I finished. Kind of hard to dress for that. I was shedding layers and stuffing them in my backpack, which made it bulky and cumbersome. On the way back, my legs turned to noodles at about 10 miles from the car, and it was like they said "We're done. So how are we getting back to the car now?". I've ridden 30 miles on that trail section before, but it was a different bike and a different time of year. I think the freeze-thaw-freeze cycle had really messed with the crushed stone bed. It was like pedaling through quicksand at times. Scenery was beautiful, but man do these old bones ache this morning.

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I think the freeze-thaw-freeze cycle had really messed with the crushed stone bed. It was like pedaling through quicksand at times. Scenery was beautiful, but man do these old bones ache this morning."
Fantastic story and pictures! Made me smile. Couple years ago, we had an awesome thaw and went out on a 7mi loop which included a long stretch of gravel that was new in the Fall - Quicksand! :doh:
 
I took Big Red out again this weekend for a spin around a local small river town. The county park was a muddy mess from recent flooding, but I rode through it anyway. The orange and white pylons show how high the water was in the floods from last weekend. Good thing the park and surrounding bottomland are about 40 feet lower in elevation than the town proper.

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Big Red now has 3 speeds: sit down, stand up, and "get off and push!". :D I tried something new this morning, something I'd only read about and wasn't entirely convinced it was a legitimate option. Instead of using a chain tensioner on Big Red, I used a spare 30T chainring as a "ghost ring" to keep the chain under tension. Despite my concerns of it jumping out of place, it worked like a champ, even when I had to dig into the pedals to climb a hill. It was so quiet I kept looking back to make sure it was still there.

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