I sat in my car in the parking lot, tired, hungover. It was early, too early for how late I had gone to bed the night before. I felt more like snuggling in the warm covers than hopping on a mountain bike and pedaling through the snow for a couple hours. But I refused to …
If Saturday's ride is at all serious, Sunday's is anything but. Rather, it's wheelies and derbies, costumes and skipping stones. It's a party on bikes, no endurance needed. There are lots of stops, laughs, and log ride attempts. And everyone wins. The venue changes from Rothrock State Forest and Martin Gap to the Allegrippis Trails …
Continue reading "Frozen Fat, Day 3: Shoreline Shenanigans."
After a long day of riding, we all stand around the fire, commune in exhausted happiness, and take part in random bicycle-related debauchery. This years feature was the ski chariot pull.
When the alarm woke me Saturday morning at o-dark-thirty, I felt like I got hit by a train. My head was pounding, my stomach was queasy, and my muscles hurt. Coffee helped, as did the small amount of food I choked down because I knew I'd need to fuel up for the 30 miles of …
Continue reading "Frozen Fat, Day 2: It’s about the comaraderie, not the competition."
January can be kind of gloomy. The holidays are over, there's not much going on, the days are short, and the temps are generally pretty frigid. Luckily, there's Frozen Fat, a winter fat-bike weekend full of camping, beer, bonfires, good people, and of course, plenty of riding bikes. This is the fourth year of the …
The past couple of days have been unusually warm, with temps rising into the 50s, and sunny skies to boot. And, lucky for me, I had a rare Saturday off due to the holidays. I took full advantage of this fortuitous combination of events and broke out the Willard for some back-road and gravel exploration. …
For the past few weeks, I've been really stoked on this loop in Rothrock State Forest---up Tussey Mountain Trail and along the ridge, then back down to Thickhead Mountain Road and John Wert Path. It's about 11 miles, doable in 2-3 hours, and is full of stunning views and challenging rock gardens. And, only about …
"It never gets easier, you just go faster." -Greg LeMond I think of this a lot, and there is a good amount of truth in those words. It can be hard to measure progress, especially when you're not necessarily on the lookout for it all the time. I'm not obsessed with getting faster. I don't …
We woke up early on Thanksgiving morning, made coffee to take in the car, and drove to the trail to get a couple hours of riding in before the family festivities and gluttony that would commence later in the day. Though it was still rather wet and muddy, conditions were much better than the day …
That's what Evan said right before giving me a quick surprise kiss at the trailhead, immediately following a miserably soggy commute from his parents house to the snowy woods that we were so excited to ride. It was still snowing---wet, slushy flakes that turned the highways into a nasty stew of water, salt, and road …
Continue reading "If you can ride in this, you can ride in anything."
helena kotala 