Old Man Winter finally brought some fury to the Grande Ronde Valley. Last week I spent most of my recovery days on snow shoes in what quickly became waist deep snow at my house. This probably wasn’t the best recovery for my legs, but it was beautiful being out in the white.
The plows got the roads cleared off in time for me to finally break out my mountain bike with studs. I specifically built this bike for serious winter riding–specifically climbing. This was my first chance to test the resolve of the Nokian Extreme 294s. After 3 days of hard riding and some steep climbing, they passed the initial test. While watching them work, it is quite apparent that they lay down a maximum footprint of carbide vengeance. They even work surprisingly well in deep snow, kind of like a paddle wheel. I had to dismount a few times, because the wind was throwing some wicked drifts on the road that the plows couldn’t keep up with. Hull road had a mother drift on which the plows gave up. Walking through this drift was like navigating the khumbu icefall. On another ride, the plowman stopped to investigate my tires because he was impressed that I wasn’t slipping on a steep grade when I passed him the previous day. I also had to push a car out of a drift. The main advantage of the proper tires is the ability to keep the intensity up without fear of falling.
Today I was able to unleash my road machine in tropical Hermitilla. I’ve made a few changes and it was nice to get out and test the road.
Now I’m off to Albuquerque. . .just packing running shoes.
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