Avoiding road tolls

After the ski and the race my craving for anything non road based or trainer trapped was high. It won't be long before the big road miles begin so it was again like Top Gear, time for a challenge. How far can I go on the mountain bike with the minimal amount of it being spent on pavement. This is normally not much of a question during the summer with my big backyard linking into the best trails Ontario offers. In the winter, well that's makes it just a little bit harder. After a km of evil asphalt I turned right for a change. Following some of those Top Gear rules they trump all Nascar guidelines. I started into this.



Since snowmobile season seems to have come to an end in this area, at least on the trails someone may as well use it. It salsa meant I didn't have to worry to much at being run down by some motorized toboggan. Most sledders I will say are pretty cool and usually give the thumbs up when they see me riding out here, of course there is always one that has to be the idiot.

Followed the trail until it linked up to the old trestle crossing. Lots of history in this area involving trains and grain ships, the trestle formally being the longest wooden bridge in I believe the world. Please don't quote me on that, no time to research this morning. Either way a bridge needs something to be a bridge over, in this case it's Hog's Bay. Yep it was a stroll out on the ice. Part of the ride was a little recon work for a potentially long skate ski, a very long skate ski.

What was I checking for, snow. After the previous day of play I was hoping the wind blew the snow someplace and that someplace was west of my home channel. See for yourself.


Conditions were at about 75 percent ride able. No open water if that's what you're thinking. It's bulletproof out there, I was expecting to see a car or two but being the middle of the week no go. The only problem was that bike tires don't work well on bare ice. Of course I'm running the ultimate in winter tire traction, XCR Mud's have been my tire of choice for the last few years. Less weight than studded tires and most of the time the same amount of traction.

I found myself using a little bit of common sense and walked my bike across a few of the clear sections, it's very amusing watching the back of the bike drift in what ever direction it felt like. I did everything I could to keep my feet drifting in the direction I wanted them to go. Only a few km were put in on the bay before heading back to snowmobile trails. A few side streets were used to bounce from trail to trail before returning to the main trail I started on. Another 2.5 hour day with about 30 minutes of it spent on roads. I'll be waiting to get the bill in the mail. Hoping for that little dusting of snow, the dogs need a good run and I'm craving an epic skate ski.