Fixed gear ride in the hills and snow south of Utica, NY.
2 plows, 6 cars, lots of snow.
Happy Holidays!
12 Hours in Photos
Early Snow
That didn’t work too well. Headed off to the Y @ 5am. Feet digging into the fluffy stuff with every turn of the crank. Decided to wait it out.
Sunday Snow
The social ride was a little more spirited this week… add in the snow and we had a fun ride. John’s $4 fixed gear is still holding strong. Jim and Patrick were riding slicks. John and I were on studs. We did some hills, a run through a cornfield, and a dash into the wind on Spear St.
Downtown
Church Street is somewhat abuzz with holiday cheer. The lights are up, the tree is lit, and the shoppers are out and about. It seems a bit more mellow than previous years.
The Burlington Bicycle Council painted some new stencils about the city center. I lobbied for changing the language to the more positive ‘Walk Bikes’ message – I even did up several versions with my limited photoshop skills – but the group compromised and did two versions. A local design house designed the graphics and output the stencils. That bumpy thing is supposed to be a ‘universally’ recognizable mountain bike wheel… debatable from how I see it. Sigh.
Sunday Social Ride
We’ve turned our Sunday morning long rides into meandering social rides as the weather turns to winter. Last week we meandered about town, through the intervale, and ended at Flatbread to warm in front of the fire and enjoy some local brew and pizza brunch. This week we took off for ‘the cut’. We keep to the MUP and quiet roads so we can chat and catch up. This week I was on the Surly riding fixed, Jim was on his all-rounder and John made the winter bike into a budget fixed gear. It was his first ride fixed – we had some comedy as he adjusted to the gearing and ‘never stop pedaling’ – but overall he did great. His JB weld freewheel fixed wheel special held strong. Temps were mild with a strong storm moving in. Snow capped the high peaks in the ADKs to the west and the Greens to the east.
Jim enjoys cold water, John brought the thermos of hot coffee…
John on the all-terrain-a-fixed-a-saurus.
The JB Weld fixed wheel special. A freewheel thats been stripped of some of its innards and epoxy welded fixed. Not sure what method John used – but here’s a good write up.
Mansfield and Camel’s Hump.
The ADKs and Whiteface.