Fatbikes Are Not A Cure All For Snow....They Just Make Riding A Bit Easier

This time last year Indianapolis was sitting at 52 inches of snow, well above our normal average of 25 inches. If you had a fatbike, or cross country skis, or snow shoes, times were fun.  Since I can only handle so much indoor training, I jumped on the fatbike bandwagon and got a Surly.

Then this year came along, and the snow had yet to make a significant appearance and were sitting at just over one foot. This changed this past weekend when Indy finally got a single significant snow, with 4-5 falling early Saturday morning.

So, like any same person who made a rash decision to buy a fatbike and was not doubting that purchase, I launched into a full fledged snow ride Saturday morning. 

My plan was to do a lap around the city, hitting most of the greenways for what would be around a 20 mile ride. 

Things started off poorly as I problems getting out of my neighborhood. The car tracks through the snow had yet to be packed down and things were slick and loose.  Stopping twice to let air out of my new Surly Nates helped.  I hit the Monon just as another line of snow came in and found that while the trail had been plowed (it is usually cleared before most city streets), the plow had been through a few hours before and there was about an inch of new snow.  No matter, this was perfect riding for a fatbike, so I cruised downtown and onto the Cultural Trail which also had been plowed but had a layer of new snow.

I rode to the downtown canal, which was partially plowed, and after nearly getting taken out by a 4 wheeler with a snow brush, I came to White River State Park.  My plan was to cross the White River and take the newish White River Trail extension south of the zoo, which is an out and back. 

Turns out this was the roughest point of the ride.  No plows or humans had been along the route, and save for some animal tracks, I was the first living thing to touch that section.  And it was hard. Pushing through 4-5 inches of snow drained my energy, and caused me to overheat.  While my heart rate was never out of control (it was actually sitting in the 130s and 140s) it was like 40 minutes of climbing and I was physically drained once I turned around and returned to the zoo. Which is too bad, since I still had to go home.

 

Riding the White River Trail south of the zoo. Very slow going.

 

Taking the White River Trail north, parts were plowed, and other not.  As I transistioned to a section of the trail north of Fall Creek, I managed to fall while taking a tight turn, right in front of about a dozen cars at a stop light. From 10th St. to 16th St., the riding was not bad. Some hours before it looked like someone had drug a sled along the trail, and there was a decent groove in the snow. North of 16th was similar to the section south of the zoo. I plodded along, sometimes at barely 6 miles an hour, overheating the entire way.  The final leg was on the Canal Tow Path, which like the Monon had been plowed, but the still falling snow had partially refilled this. 

Final ride time was 2 1/2 hours...with an average speed of 8.6 mph.  This is not a testament the state of my fitness, but to the conditions.  That evening, I felt like I had ridden three times the 21 miles I had actually done. Back in early Febraury I had done a 40 mile road ride with about 2,000 feet of climbing. I felt more fatigued after the snow ride than that ride!

But, being a glutton for punishment, I decided to do this all again on Sunday.  The plan this time was to take the Fall Creek Trail out to Fort Ben since reports were that the trails there were in good shape. At first, it was a repeat of Sunday's ride, with deep snow which found me trying to follow a few sets of foot prints and other fatbike tire tracks.  Things improved immeasely north of 38th street, where the trail had been groomed by a few four wheelers. This riding was great, and I maintained decent speed.  Soon enough, the four wheelers decided to turn around and I was left with deep snow and a repeat of yesterday's adventure. This continued until 56th St. where the roadside trail had been completely cleared and salted up until the I-465 overpass.

The problem was, I had left for my ride fairly late in the afternoon, and the longer than anticipated outbound ride meant by the time I arrived at Fort Ben, the sun was heading rapidly towards the horizon. I only had time for a short amount of trail before I bailed and fought my way back towards home. Without lights, I knew I was racing the clock and finally deicded to call my wife, who was coming home from yoga class, to coordinate a pick up. 

 

So, two hard days of pushing a very heavy fatbike through the snow left me wasted.  I took Monday off, and then started one of my usual spin bike workouts on Tuesday and found I had no fire in the legs. I opted for an easier, relaxed spin, which seemed to do the trick.

 

Tomorrow night is DINO's Fatbike Friday race at Southwestway Park. It is a night race which kicks off at 8 pm.  The temperatures at race time have slowly been dropping and are now sitting here:

 

No expectations for this race. I hope to have a fun time, not freeze too badly, remain upright, and get a good workout in.  Race report will be forthcoming....

Winter Training Update....And Not Much Else

The dark days of winter are in full swing, and with it comes the lack of blog updates.  What I have been up to this month? Well work for one thing (busier than usual) but also Base Training.  Like last year, I am not doing a written training plan, but instead focusing on getting in lots of base training, mainly on the road on my cross bike.  The training has gone well and I had my best month in quite some time, logging 33 hours of training, and over 340 miles in January.  Indoor spinning is also a standby, although with February now here I plan to start working on hill repeats.

In a change from past years, I have also been incorporating weight training and some running for cross training purposes.  Whether the weights will pay dividends remains to be seen, although I have noticed an increase in my weight despite logging an increase in hours.  I assume this is an increase in muscle from the weight lifting. No quite what I wanted, but hopefully there will be an increase in power to compensate for the few extra pounds.

Snow has been scarce this year, but I have gotten some fatbike time in.

 

Some extra mild weather came in during the first of February, and the thermometer climbed into the upper 40's and 50's.  This called for a longer ride to Brooklyn, Indiana with Aaron to tackle some hills.  Despite the directions to turnaround at the top of Observatory Hill, we continued forward for a solid training ride.

 

Spring like temps were replaced this weekend with plunging temperatures, occasional white out snow fall, and winds exceeding 30 m.p.h. I got in a good mtb ride on trails on the Butler campus and the Cycloplex, although I was mostly frozen afterwards.

 

Sights are currently set on the Death March on March 14, which I will be riding with my partner from last year, Aaron, this time both under the Matthews banner.  Then on March 28 is the Barry Roubaix, which is a bit later this year, perhaps to ensure that there won’t be as much as ice and snow as in past years.

But before each of these is Fatbike Friday, presented by DINO on February 27^th at Southwestway Park. Pretty sure this will be the first fatbike race in Indiana, and it is a night race to boot.  I’m not expecting to be terribly competitive in this race, considering how early in the season it is, and the battle tank of a bike I will be riding.  But still, it should be a fun evening. Hopefully enough people sign up to ensure the thing goes off without a hitch.