Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association - Forums

starting temp 22 degrees. 840am
 
i rode the indian side towards the stables.  the trails were fun.  no bike tracks and little foot traffic except for the parts near valley green.  i took the high trail- not the waterfall.  i rode to the end, up to the stables and started my return thru the rock garden.  all good. :)
 
i crossed over and climbed 1/2 of the hill after mother- the gradual climb.  as soon as i got to the top the trails were well worn with foot potholes and soft snow.  i rode for 1/2 a mile maybe and cut out down the side of the hill, off trail on snow, to the covered bridge.  that was fun.  it was just too much work to stay on the trails.  i rode a short section of trail back from the covered bridge to the stairs and then hit forbidden drive back. :-[
 
end ride 10:20 29 degrees.

I had a similar experience today. Some areas are definitely better than others, that's for sure. The new section heading towards the Inn was tough (pic (http://www.snottybeer.com/repo/bike/Feb17_0001.jpg)). Not too many tracks or footprints (pic (http://www.snottybeer.com/repo/bike/Feb17_0002.jpg)) and lots of breaking through the crust and sinking into soft almost sandy snow (pic (http://www.snottybeer.com/repo/bike/Feb17_0004.jpg)). It started getting better at the log trick section past the new trail. A lot less breaking through, more compacted. The downhill after that was fast and fun. From that point on it was a lot less difficult. In this pic (http://www.snottybeer.com/repo/bike/Feb17_0005.jpg) you can see the snow is frozen enough to support weight without breaking through. It's tough to see because of the crappy cell phone images, but that's the little bridge under Henry Avenue after you come down the rocky downhill (heading away from the Inn), make a sharp right onto the cement bridge, then left to go up the rocky uphill. This pic (http://www.snottybeer.com/repo/bike/Feb17_0006.jpg) might illustrate it better. That following uphill was rideable all the way to the top and the trails in that direction were great all the way to the golf course. I bailed on the climb after the golf course and headed down Forbidden to Kitchen's Lane, and that's where it started getting tough again. From the recently removed logs on, it was rough going. Not unrideable really, just tricky. Flats and downhills were fine, it was the uphills that posed the most problems for me. The rear tire was constantly breaking through the crust under any kind of load making it really difficult to keep going. That continued all the way back to the Inn as for whatever reason, those trails hadn't been traveled too much, not enough to pack it down like the other side.

Anyway, I just thought I'd relay my experience and pics from today. Tomorrow and Monday will probably be more of the same, though hopefully with more beaten down paths. Then again, I can see the existing ruts freezing solid and posing more difficulties. We'll see.

Oh, forgot to mention... I took studs but gambled and decided not to mount them. It was a good thing as they wouldn't have helped much with the current conditions. Regular tires grabbed fine on the hardpack and crunchy top layer. There wasn't a whole lot of ice or iced-over hardpack to speak of.

thanks for the report repoman! those pictures are great.

i hope a little more freeze thaw today will toughen things up better between now and tomorrow.

i was out in valley forge yesterday trying to ride on the crust. where you didn't sink it was incredible! so fast and smooth. and then there were sections were you definitely could not ride but not THAT many.

if any of you guys are up for a big ride tomorrow (monday) i am trying to get a ride going to ride both wiss and belmont. meet at valley green 9am. no need to stay for the whole ride either if your february form isn't quite there yet  ;)

so if you want to ride, brave the frigid temps and come out!

Max, I agree on the snow conditions. We were out in NJ Sat and Sun, exactly like you described.

I'm still in and up for the ride tomorrow. See you at 9.

dz