Ride the Crunch
Up at 6am.
On the bike at the park by 6:30am.
On my ass in the middle of the frozen-wet and very dark trail by 6:32am.
Hmmm. Guess it's slick.
When you get a couple of warm days after a bunch of hard frozen days, the ground does some weird things. I guess it's frost heaves. It's like the moisture that was frozen and contracted into the soil on the frozen days, expands or explodes the soil on the warm days. Then you get a cold night and it freezes that way - all expanded and frozen. It creates this weird, crunchy dirt flower surface that can't support the inertia of your wheels. If you're riding straight, the crunchy dirt surface crushes under your wheels and feels like you're riding on a semi-frozen sponge. If you're hitting a corner kind of hot (i.e. fast), the crunchy dirt surface crushes under your wheels feeling like gravel. If you're too hot, there's not enough friction and you end up on your ass.
Not one to be completely discouraged by a bike crash, I got up and proceeded on my way. Gretchen hardly noticed. Crunchy dirt flower surfaces don't affect her.
I had limited time this morning for two reasons. The most pertinent was the fact the crunchy frozen dirt flowers I was now skating across would be mud as soon as the sun came up (the one flower that dies in the sun). The second was a conference call at 8am.
I banged out my normal ride on the quarry side of the park. Of course the trail by the quarry seemed colder and darker then the trails elsewhere.
We headed back to the car. Snapped this quick picture of the sun rising over the freezing lake and frosted grass.
Then made it home for my call.
Kind of interesting thawing the frozen breath out of my beard as I gave status on my product to the other folks around the globe.
- b
On the bike at the park by 6:30am.
On my ass in the middle of the frozen-wet and very dark trail by 6:32am.
Hmmm. Guess it's slick.
When you get a couple of warm days after a bunch of hard frozen days, the ground does some weird things. I guess it's frost heaves. It's like the moisture that was frozen and contracted into the soil on the frozen days, expands or explodes the soil on the warm days. Then you get a cold night and it freezes that way - all expanded and frozen. It creates this weird, crunchy dirt flower surface that can't support the inertia of your wheels. If you're riding straight, the crunchy dirt surface crushes under your wheels and feels like you're riding on a semi-frozen sponge. If you're hitting a corner kind of hot (i.e. fast), the crunchy dirt surface crushes under your wheels feeling like gravel. If you're too hot, there's not enough friction and you end up on your ass.
Not one to be completely discouraged by a bike crash, I got up and proceeded on my way. Gretchen hardly noticed. Crunchy dirt flower surfaces don't affect her.
I had limited time this morning for two reasons. The most pertinent was the fact the crunchy frozen dirt flowers I was now skating across would be mud as soon as the sun came up (the one flower that dies in the sun). The second was a conference call at 8am.
I banged out my normal ride on the quarry side of the park. Of course the trail by the quarry seemed colder and darker then the trails elsewhere.
We headed back to the car. Snapped this quick picture of the sun rising over the freezing lake and frosted grass.
Then made it home for my call.Kind of interesting thawing the frozen breath out of my beard as I gave status on my product to the other folks around the globe.
- b
posted by JenBob at
9:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home