The Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association

There's a few inches of frozen sleet/snow on the trails. The morning was superb. Full weight on bike didn't sink in at all. This pic shows the track left by normal riding. This was over in the new section around 10AM. Totally frozen, crusty coverage in pristine shape. This pic shows a fully weighted track and some footprints where I had to stomp to get them to sink in, and even then my foot didn't sink in that far.

Then it started to warm up. Some sections got soft, though not down to the trail. The one time I got a glimpse of the trail, it looked like it rained, froze, then the sleet/snow built up on top. Despite some sections getting soft, others were still frozen and quite rideable. I was trying to get back to Northwestern before it got totally unmanageable so I headed back and hit the section before Livezey Rock and that was a blast. The snow had drifted, making fun banks. Then I hit that little creek before the little rock hopper and nearly endoed. Sunk right in and stopped dead. That was the beginning of the end. The sun and relatively warm temp around 12:30 softened it all up. Climbs were not happening and downhills were sketchy. On top, then break through... rinse, repeat. I tried to ride back on Forbidden from the Inn, but that was not happening either so I went up to the Indian thinking maybe the sun hadn't beaten down on that ridge as much. It hadn't I guess, as it was more rideable, but in the end it was nothing like the morning. The top inch or so was now wet and soft. I ended up walking most of the rest of the way back to Northwestern, with brief periods in the saddle.

So basically, at it's best it was some of the best winter riding I've done and at its worst it was hiking with a bike in the snow with inappropriate shoes.

As for tomorrow, I'm keeping an eye on the temperature. In my opinion, if this afternoon melt is allowed to freeze overnight, tomorrow morning could be stellar. If it's like it was today, I'd say studs aren't required but they'd probably help. It was crusty enough that I think regular tires would have sufficient grip. Morning will probably be the time to catch the best conditions.

As you might have gathered from the pics, the trails were VERY lightly travelled. I only came across a couple sets of footprints and XC ski tracks, and at the time mine were the only bike tracks. I don't imagine anyone would have wanted to ride for long in the conditions that sprouted up after noon, so I think tomorrow, if it pans out with the temperature, might find the trails about as untracked as you see them in the pics.

As for the melt creating mud, like I said, I only saw dirt once and my bike came back without a speck of dirt on it (well, I picked up a little from a puddle in the parking lot at the Inn). It looks like there's enough precipitation on the ground that even the short melt this afternoon shouldn't have diminished the coverage too badly.

Hope this helps anyone who's thinking about Sunday.