First ride of 2009

I met up with about 10 LSC (and former LSC) guys for the 318 ride Saturday morning. 318 is a coffee shop in Excelsior were the group meets and then rides to Dunn Brothers downtown—about a 40 mile ride. 90% of the ride is on trails and they all ride a cross bike with studded tires.

I rolled up with a MTB, no studded tires. With this combo I was asking for it. It wasn’t the fear of falling, since I tend to do that no matter the riding condition, so the ice didn’t concern me. My biggest concern was keeping up with them on the MTB. I’m no Fat Tire Neil—who, if you don’t already know, can school all the roadies on his King Bee.

Turned out, keeping up with them on the MTB wasn’t the issue. Feeling a little too confident a half mile into the ride—fishtailing but keeping full control—that I wouldn’t be eating snow…I ate snow. Everything happened so fast. One second I was looking at Jordan’s back wheel the next second I was in a fetal position on the ice.

I got up as fast as I went down, still in shock, not sure if everything was intact (aside from my pride). When everything started to come back I noticed the bike had just as hard of an impact as I did which knocked my feet out of the clips and the bike slid across the path to the other side.

The rest of the ride towards downtown wasn’t that bad, but because it took so long to get out there the ride back was a bit more nerve-racking. The hard snow started to become a bit more soft exposing the ice and causing both of my tires to slide around with the few degree increase.

While reflecting upon the ride icing my new bruises, I learned—don’t think you can ride on icy trails without the proper tires.