Singletrack

One of the best things about snow? The way it melts.

Singletrack. Like the snow knows it has overstayed its welcome, it prioritizes what to open first.

Gotta take full advantage of days like that.


A ribbon of tacky dirt hidden between 12 inch drifts, a good freeze, and all the action, jackson.

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Rode today at Freedom Park in Williamsburg. Great trails!! Dry for the most part and we avoided the few damp spots that were there thanks to the expert guidance of Rick Bartels.
Jenny got her first ride of over 3 miles in on the new TopFuel WSD. She flies on this thing. Kept within a minute or less of Rick and I initially and towards the end, when we would stop to check on her, she was right there with us. Wow! Great equipment and great friends!! What cycling is all about!
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Today's attempt at a ride.

Bye Kyle simple strap, elegantly demonstrated in the snow.

What can two simple straps do for you?

Eric Moore--sans simple strap

Mich-Co and Shawn...after using the contents of the simple strap

Jo-Pro trying to outdo the simple strap in elegance.

The group-Pre ride-note simple straps.

Simple strap-in place, on standby.


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It was billed large "attack on ohill" Or somesuch thing of epic proportions and scope that it was doomed to failure. Physically, mentally, emotionally, it could never live up to all it was supposed to....especially not in these conditions. Right from the get go, it was soured by getting the 4-runner stuck in pseudo parking area. Strike 1
Then we started into the "single track" --by single, I mean, really it was that....what was normally a fire-road-wide-open descent on Ohill was a single track of hiker foot prints, a set o' cross country skis, and dog poop and yellow snow. It made for curious riding, you would get going for 5 or 10 feet, then have to make a slight steering input, and off you would go....classic stuff. We finally managed to hike a bike and sort of ride our way DOWN through a rock garden section of ohill. As Jason put it "We always climb that faster than we just descended it" Strike 2
We punched out at the bottom and decided to head over towards Reservoir road and do a out and back on that. Combined between Mich-Co running a cop off the road into the ditch and Dirty Uncle Stans non sealant failing me again, we made strike 3 happen. Tubed out we finished the ride and at the top of Ohill I got to play with rogue hoe as a shovel for a bit to get the 4-Runner unstuck.

But looking back...there is nothing else I would have rather done for the day...I got out on my bike with friends, and had some fun. Great friends and great equipment...really, that is what this is all about for me.

Oh yeah, the side theme of the day "Photos of Bye-Kyle straps in the snow" hey, he asked for it
www.byekyle.com

-Shawn

I should ride my bike

but, there seems to be something keeping me from getting out the door.......


And when I do get outside, it chases me.........






ahh well, the weather should get better at some point and I can ride more.....Andy will be disappointed though...

There must be a survivor under here!

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ahh, great weather for riding

Winter Storm Warning--Yeah..it happened.











A few of us rallied for some snow riding today. An impromptu crit around the Carl Smith Center. Super Fun. I think Andy won....between searching for survivors in the snow drifts.
I think stability wise, Jay had the advantage on his Trek Remedy...big tires and good supple suspension kept him low to the ground and in good contact....But Hiser rocked it on the 29er Hard Tail as well. Kate went old school Canti brakes on us and showed no fear on the descents....awesome....
Jenny made snow angels and took pictures....

-Shawn

Team extracurricular activites...

The racing season has wound down and now there's things to do other than ride bikes all the time. Kate Lucas promoted the inaugural Earlysville 5k Turkey Trot, and it was great to see a bunch of Bike Factory Racing folks out there running and helping. Not a bad way to justify the Thanksgiving calorie carbo-load.

http://site.charlottesvillemultisports.com/Race_Info.html