Spring snow ride?

As strange as that sounds, it is exactly what I tried to do. I was out of town all weekend and took off work on Monday because we were probably going to get home late on Sunday. My plan all week was to get a ride in on Monday. The weather on the other hand had different thoughts. Driving home we came through a bad snow storm and the wind was wicked. I thought I might be in luck when we got closer to home and we were not getting any snow. When I woke up I realized I was wrong. It was snowing and the ground was white. I had hopes that the trails would be good enough to ride since Ferdinand is ride able when a lot of other trails are not.

I loaded up the SS since I still have small knobbies on the Niner and I am still thinking of racing my SS in the KY series. There is a KY race before the Dino series starts, so I better get myself back in SS shape. I was there in no time and ready to hit the trail. The entrance was softer then I liked to see, but figured that area is always different than the rest. The trail did get better, but it was still not what I wanted to ride. Where the snow actually covered the trail, it was great. Where the trail was not covered, it was not so much. It did not get cold enough over night to have the ground cold enough. It was not overly muddy, but it was slick and not what I wanted to ride.

I ended up taking the gravel out of the park and hitting a short loop that is a mix of gravel and back roads. The wide was brutal on some road sections. The SS was not set up with the greatest gear for this route, but I am not sure I would have wanted a bigger gear on some of the climbs. I had also lowered the pressure in the back tire to help with traction and it now seemed to be on the low side for the road. Remembering that I forgot to pack a co2, I did not want to go too far from the park.

I didn't end up with the ride that I would have liked, but I still ended up climbing some good hills and it was better than not getting out. I have a long way to go before I am ready to race the SS at Duffied, but I have a few weeks left before I need to be ready. I just hope to get closer by then.