Last evening about 10 pm as I was heading to bed, Susan was downstairs letting the dog out. She yelled to me to come down and take a look outside. Turns out it was snowing with a dusting of snow already on the ground. Not an unusual sight to see in Northeastern Minnesota. We've seen it snowing 100's of times. This time it was unexpected. It hadn't been forecast at all. Any time it snows I get excited about riding.
I guess the precipitation only lasted an hour or so. The temperature dropped below freezing during the night. For the morning ride in to work it was 27F (-3C). Most of the moisture that came down in the night ended up freezing to the roads. With the memory of my broken arm less than a year old, slickeriness makes me nervous. Mostly due to the fact I have yet to put the studded tires on yet. I didn't really need them this morning, but it sure would have given me quite a bit more confidence. My rear tire spun a few times climbing up to Skyline this morning. The city salt trucks had been out and spread a light layer of salt. But there were spots that got missed. All in all I made it to work just fine...and it was a very pleasant morning to be out on a bicycle.
In other winter riding news. The
Arrowhead 135 roster is limited to 75 racers.
It has filled up and a waiting list is growing. I may have a few of these facts wrong, but I think this will be the 6th AH135. I don't believe the roster has ever filled up before. And if it has,
never this early. It is very cool to see this event growing in popularity. Again I don't know this for sure, but I speculate the growth is due to two things. The event is maturing and word is getting out about how great an event it is. And
Mike C showing up and riding last year brought the event up to a new level of respect in snowbiking circles. It used to be people would ride the AH 135 and dream of heading to Alsaka for a real wilderness race. You didn't see Alaskans coming to the lower forty-eight for snow races. This year there will be five Alaskans, as the roster currently stands.
The roster is impressive. Five Alaskans, people from Ma to FL to TX to WA. People from Canada, Italy, France, Brazil, Bolivia, and the UK. It used to be 95% Minnesotans. Nice to see some variety. By the looks of some missing names and the waiting list, some people were caught by surprise with the roster filling up.
I chose to skip it this year. I've been having a lazy year. I get out and ride almost daily, but I've had no desire to do the training required for an event like the Arrowhead. Hearing the news about the AH135 has me regretting it a bit. What fun it would be to line up with this fine group and ride through the woods of Northern Minnesota on a snow bike.
Since the roster lists everyone as a "rookie" or "verteran" based on whether or not they have competed in the AH135 before, it would have been worth the $200 registration fee just to see my name with a "veteran" behind it on the same list as someone like Pete Basinger and seeing "rookie" next to his name. Me a veteran and Pete B. a rookie! Now that's funny!
Last evening about 10 pm as I was heading to bed, Susan was downstairs letting the dog out. She yelled to me to come down and take a look outside. Turns out it was snowing with a dusting of snow already on the ground. Not an unusual sight to see in Northeastern Minnesota. We've seen it snowing 100's of times. This time it was unexpected. It hadn't been forecast at all. Any time it snows I get excited about riding.
I guess the precipitation only lasted an hour or so. The temperature dropped below freezing during the night. For the morning ride in to work it was 27F (-3C). Most of the moisture that came down in the night ended up freezing to the roads. With the memory of my broken arm less than a year old, slickeriness makes me nervous. Mostly due to the fact I have yet to put the studded tires on yet. I didn't really need them this morning, but it sure would have given me quite a bit more confidence. My rear tire spun a few times climbing up to Skyline this morning. The city salt trucks had been out and spread a light layer of salt. But there were spots that got missed. All in all I made it to work just fine...and it was a very pleasant morning to be out on a bicycle.
In other winter riding news. The Arrowhead 135 roster is limited to 75 racers. It has filled up and a waiting list is growing. I may have a few of these facts wrong, but I think this will be the 6th AH135. I don't believe the roster has ever filled up before. And if it has, never this early. It is very cool to see this event growing in popularity. Again I don't know this for sure, but I speculate the growth is due to two things. The event is maturing and word is getting out about how great an event it is. And Mike C showing up and riding last year brought the event up to a new level of respect in snowbiking circles. It used to be people would ride the AH 135 and dream of heading to Alsaka for a real wilderness race. You didn't see Alaskans coming to the lower forty-eight for snow races. This year there will be five Alaskans, as the roster currently stands.
The roster is impressive. Five Alaskans, people from Ma to FL to TX to WA. People from Canada, Italy, France, Brazil, Bolivia, and the UK. It used to be 95% Minnesotans. Nice to see some variety. By the looks of some missing names and the waiting list, some people were caught by surprise with the roster filling up.
I chose to skip it this year. I've been having a lazy year. I get out and ride almost daily, but I've had no desire to do the training required for an event like the Arrowhead. Hearing the news about the AH135 has me regretting it a bit. What fun it would be to line up with this fine group and ride through the woods of Northern Minnesota on a snow bike.
Since the roster lists everyone as a "rookie" or "verteran" based on whether or not they have competed in the AH135 before, it would have been worth the $200 registration fee just to see my name with a "veteran" behind it on the same list as someone like Pete Basinger and seeing "rookie" next to his name. Me a veteran and Pete B. a rookie! Now that's funny!