1 Jan 11 - First Ride Of The Season
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:21 pm
It was an unseasonably balmy +6C with light drizzle today, definitely not the kind of weather you'd expect for the first day of the New Year. The unusual stretch of warm temps for the past few days had all but melted the snow and turned the ground into a half thawed mud bog, while the roads were soaking wet like an August thunderstorm had just passed through the area. This presented a unique problem in that while I had proper cold weather gear and proper wet weather gear, I had nothing that qualified as proper cold & wet riding gear. So I wore my cold weather gear, knowing my ride would be shortened once the dampness soaked through it all.
First stop was one of my favourite local trails, but as soon as I started down it I knew I wouldn't make it too far. The rain had melted most of the snow but there was still a good three inch layer of slush that was insulating a layer of glare ice underneath in some spots, while camouflaging deep, soggy mud runs in others. The skinny tires of the Ural cut right through the soft slush and it was a heck of a time to keep the momentum up once the knobby rear tire encountered the hard ice or the soft mud. I managed to make it about a kilometre in, but then bogged down on the first moderate uphill. I could have taken another run at it, but I know this trail well and the next 2km's would be even worse as it leads down into a soggy valley and then up a steep hill on the other side. I felt more like riding rather than pushing today, so I got the rig turned around and paused for a pic before heading back to the wet gravel county roads...
A little further down from the trail I nipped down a short road that is not maintained in the winter and had some fun doing powerslides around its many tight, slushy corners. I could feel something hitting my right leg after awhile so I stopped to check it out and discovered that the front tire had been flinging a rooster tail of slush between the sidecar and right cylinder head...
By now my riding gear was pretty soaked and I could feel the dampness beginning to penetrate through the layers of clothing underneath, so I knew it was time to head back soon. But not before a side trip into the town of Hanover for a photo with Frosty The Snowman. With the warm temps and lack of snow, I’m not sure why he was still smiling...
I stopped at the Mac’s milk store back in town to get some minor grocery items and two of the ladies in the lineup at the counter told me they were impressed that I was starting the New year off the right way with a ride. It was nice not to hear the usual “crazy bastid” comments for once!
First stop was one of my favourite local trails, but as soon as I started down it I knew I wouldn't make it too far. The rain had melted most of the snow but there was still a good three inch layer of slush that was insulating a layer of glare ice underneath in some spots, while camouflaging deep, soggy mud runs in others. The skinny tires of the Ural cut right through the soft slush and it was a heck of a time to keep the momentum up once the knobby rear tire encountered the hard ice or the soft mud. I managed to make it about a kilometre in, but then bogged down on the first moderate uphill. I could have taken another run at it, but I know this trail well and the next 2km's would be even worse as it leads down into a soggy valley and then up a steep hill on the other side. I felt more like riding rather than pushing today, so I got the rig turned around and paused for a pic before heading back to the wet gravel county roads...
A little further down from the trail I nipped down a short road that is not maintained in the winter and had some fun doing powerslides around its many tight, slushy corners. I could feel something hitting my right leg after awhile so I stopped to check it out and discovered that the front tire had been flinging a rooster tail of slush between the sidecar and right cylinder head...
By now my riding gear was pretty soaked and I could feel the dampness beginning to penetrate through the layers of clothing underneath, so I knew it was time to head back soon. But not before a side trip into the town of Hanover for a photo with Frosty The Snowman. With the warm temps and lack of snow, I’m not sure why he was still smiling...
I stopped at the Mac’s milk store back in town to get some minor grocery items and two of the ladies in the lineup at the counter told me they were impressed that I was starting the New year off the right way with a ride. It was nice not to hear the usual “crazy bastid” comments for once!
The 2WD is a nice feature, but really, all it does is allow you to go a bit further into the wilderness before you get stuck.