I went on another training ride last night to try out some more theories. I put the seatpost rack on with a tool bag containing my small (50oz.) Camelbak bladder, thinking it might be good to take as much water as possible. I even had some emergency supplies for building a fire, some tools, etc. I strapped some new rubber overboots on top of all that. I didn’t expect to wear them tonight, but I want to figure out a way to take them with me in case I have to push a long section of the race, since the last few times I had pushed in the snow my feet had begun to freeze instantly. Maybe something about having a large chunk of metal on the bottom of the shoe causes the heat to bleed out quickly? I figured maybe having some rubber boots to throw on for a long walk up a hill would be an advantage.
As usual, getting ready took too long and left me frustrated. I got home from work at 5:30 or so, and was pretty much ready to go in an hour. I had to pump up two of the jeep tires before I could leave, which left me frustrated. I was finally on the road a little after 6:30, and got all the way to Potter Hill Road before I realized that I forgot my helmet. Turned around, went all the way back home (to find that the garage door had reopened on its own), grabbed the helmet, then headed back out.
I went to my in-law’s with the Jeep, and then my wife gave me a quick ride from there to the top of Potter’s Hill. The plan was to try the Level B section again, but without trying to climb Potter Hill Road as a ‘warm up’. She dropped me off at the top of the hill just as it was starting to snow pretty heavily. I unloaded the bike, gave her a kiss, and started rolling down the hill. I was looking forward to trying out the skinny Nokians on what would probably be the roughest part of the route. They worked really well heading down the gravel, to the point where I was keeping pretty good pace with a small deer running about 40 feet in front of me. Then we got to the end of the gravel, and the deer took off, and I slowed way down.
The skinny tires didn’t do too bad on the rough spots. It was a handful to keep it pointed in the right direction with all of the off-camber spots I was going over, but it was much better than it was when I was running oversize tires on skinny rims with too little pressure. I did end up dumping over sideways twice, but never hit hard. I made it down to the bottom pretty quickly and gave my wife a call to let her know I was heading west on Heritage trail.
I made it out almost to Farley without too much trouble. I stopped a couple of times to send my location, take drinks, eat Clif Bloks, etc. I decided to turn around after I had about an hour in when I got to Boge road. I was having pretty good luck with the narrow tires, but it was getting tougher as more snow fell. I was also having issues with the seatpost rack swinging around on me and the boots on it hitting the tire. That was pretty frustrating, as I would have to unclip my left foot to swing my leg back and push the rack around.
About halfway back to the jeep’s I decided to stop and swap foot warmers to see how long that process took. It went fine, but it went slow, and it left my hands cold for the first time. They had been plenty warm for the entire ride, but having gloves off to take socks off had chilled them a little. I think if I was going to be out much longer I would have gotten out some of the little hand warmers.
Swapping the foot warmers was uneventful, but I should have done it sooner. It’s a lot easier to stay ahead of cold toes than it is to catch up with them. I really hope the insulated ‘booties’ for my bike shoes arrive in time; I think that will help with the cold feet quite a bit.
I was making pretty good time on the way back until I stopped to change my foot warmers. Things seemed to slow way down after that. I made it into Graf and swung out onto the road, as it was slightly easier going. It felt great to be rolling along in the fresh snow, hearing no sound but my tires crunching along.
I was coming up Potter Hill road and I started to feel bad. It was almost 10:00 and the girls were still awake because it was taking me so long to get back to meet my wife. I was close enough that I thought the GMRS radio would work, so I called Katie and told her she could pick me up if she wanted on Potter Hill road. A few minutes later I saw the barn come into view that sits across from their driveway, so I caller her back and told her not to worry about it. I rolled down the driveway and then cranked up the hill, arriving right about 10:00 p.m.
Lessons learned:
1. Seatpost racks (still) kind of suck. I still may end up running that one, but probably just with the boots. I think I can fit everything else in the Hydrapak. Also, it needs to be mounted higher, possibly with something tethering it to the seat rails to keep it from swinging all over the place.
2. Big mittens over nice cycling gloves will leave hands sweaty.
3. Small tires on packed snow work okay, but it’s on the edge of not working. It was important to find a good spot in the trail that would keep me from sinking too deep to keep rolling quickly.
4. It is most important to have a very understanding wife and a very supportive family.
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