While I planned on a new years day ride on Jan 1, we had a slush storm on new years day. I’m not saying I could not have gone for a ride but I did not. Today was my first ride of the year, a relatively flat packed trail but wet an a bit mushy on my 26er nimbus. A 3 mile ride loved every minute.
A 11.3km (7mi) round trip up a nearby hill, with 260m (853ft) of elevation on the 3rd of January. Some ice and snow but for the most part the road was pretty good. I used my 26" (a URC/Nimbus hybrid), with VCX+ cranks set to 100mm and a Kenda Klondike XT studded tyre. Not a particularly great time (51m37s), meaning an average speed of only 13.1km/h (8.1mph). I can average 16.3km/h (10.1mph) on this route but after the holidays I was not in the mood for pushing myself!
On New Year’s Day, I did a few miles around our local forest on the KH36. I didn’t measure the distance, but I did an hour or two of hard riding on a mixture of firm well-made trails, and narrow muddy single track.
I did a harder ride on 3rd Jan on the KH24 in the same general area.
Decided to go for a long ride on january 1st. 52 km on my 26", of which way too many were on boring roads/along a canal. But I did find some really nice trails along a river, which were nice and flowy, lot’s of up and down, some mildly technical sections, but overall very chill.
Next time I’m here, I’ll try to find a way to plan the tour so that more of it is on trails, and less just pedaling away on roads.
Got super sloppy in the mountain bike trails near me in Western CT. Surprisingly warm and had some power slides in the mud that were exhilarating after the fact and horrifying in the moment.
Also rode across my first log element, which was a satisfying accomplishment. Great start to the year
Took out my 20". Did a circuit through several local parks, stopping to practice certain skills, rode up a horse trail, at the top of which is an awesome view of Saddleback Mountain, South Orange County and the snow-covered San Gabriel mountains to the north. There were tons of people out in the parks this weekend. Some pretty questionable social distancing was happening at these get-togethers, IMHO.
I was celebrating with my family in Germany in the Harz mountains and went around 11 pm for a 2 hour ride 300 vertical meters up into the snowy mountains to better watch the fireworks and start my 2021 on my muni. Always beautiful to watch the fireworks and to hear the church bells welcoming the new year on the one side and having the calm national park and nature in your back.
my first ride was on Jan 1st when I decided to take the 36" out for a spin, which I hadn’t ridden in many months. It was very nice and quiet in the forest. Every time I ride it, I think of how heavy it is compared to the others and often come up with riding the 32" next.
Technically, my first ride of 2021 was the trip from/to the garage when the car needed service.
I particularly liked the morning part getting back home with the view on top of the hill (that would kill my glutes for almost a week) and the snowed peaks far in the background.