The arctic air was moving in on Sunday so the best day to get out and play on the phattie was Saturday. I layered up and headed from the house to Maude S Canyon Phattie did surprisingly well once we got to Maude S. I was blown away at just how well the bike did on the trail up to the summit.
It is a 1,200 ft ascent to the summit with a constant climb on trail up the canyon. Most of the switchbacks were doable on the way up and there were only a couple of times where I had to dismount to get through a section, and that was probably mostly because of the line I took.
The descent was crazy fun and crazy surprising! I was shocked at just how much traction I had bombing downhill. The combo of having an aggressive tread on the front (Surly Nate) with the low psi and the disc brake stopping power really made it feel like the bike was under total control. I was really able to pick lines and be aggressive on the trail....wow, wow, and holy SWEET nectar! If this is the way it is going to hold up, then ohhhhh come to papa because it will be hard to get that ear to ear grin of me smug mug!
What goes down, must go up though....pedaling uphill was hard! The combo big tires, heavier bike, and packed snow made for some hard work! I was panting and grovelling and thinking how much harder it was than on a regular bike. That would make lots of sense considering...DUH
My glass 1/2 full comment is that I hope the trails remain packed down enough to keep riding through the winter - even if it is just a couple of trails...yeehaa!
Some pix of the outing:
at the summit:
looking towards Butte:
Snow rolling in....
now time to descend!
It is a 1,200 ft ascent to the summit with a constant climb on trail up the canyon. Most of the switchbacks were doable on the way up and there were only a couple of times where I had to dismount to get through a section, and that was probably mostly because of the line I took.
The descent was crazy fun and crazy surprising! I was shocked at just how much traction I had bombing downhill. The combo of having an aggressive tread on the front (Surly Nate) with the low psi and the disc brake stopping power really made it feel like the bike was under total control. I was really able to pick lines and be aggressive on the trail....wow, wow, and holy SWEET nectar! If this is the way it is going to hold up, then ohhhhh come to papa because it will be hard to get that ear to ear grin of me smug mug!
What goes down, must go up though....pedaling uphill was hard! The combo big tires, heavier bike, and packed snow made for some hard work! I was panting and grovelling and thinking how much harder it was than on a regular bike. That would make lots of sense considering...DUH
My glass 1/2 full comment is that I hope the trails remain packed down enough to keep riding through the winter - even if it is just a couple of trails...yeehaa!
Some pix of the outing:
at the summit:
Come down to Denver for the second Sunday in February for the Elephant Ride up Guanella Pass
ReplyDeletehmmmmm - am supposed to be heading down to big D potentially for the month of Feb (in order to work on the house to get it ready for listing), so it could be a GO...you going to do it on your mtb? Are you back to being a working stiff? or a kept man? Hope you guys are well!
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