Tsunayoshi's Journal: 35.5 MPH

Max speed I hit on my bike Saturday while riding through a national park. Was a long down hill on a regular road. Kind of freaky since the wind is extremely loud, and the knobbies on the mountain bike were roaring at that speed. I got as low and back as I could on the bike and the whole time was thinking how much asphalt would hurt at that speed. Of course, over the next 2 miles I had to go back UP the same elevation on the way back to my car, and at this point I was about 17 miles into my 20 mile ride, legs are definitely feeling it.

Whole ride was 2:20 in time (HH:MM) and a tad under 20 miles. Basically, the park has an 8 mile road loop that various trails and campsites shoot off of, I parked at the beginning of the loop and went out and back every bike-legal road that spoked off. I almost wish I had a GPS so I could have track my total uphill elevation gain over the ride, it was nothing but up and down the whole way. My goal was to stay out of granny gear (small chain-ring in front) and I made it, barely. I was also able to practice my downhill body positions on much safer trails than my normal ones, where there are too many turns and obstacles you need to pay attention to. 20 MPH down gravel fireroads dodging fallen limbs and various ice patches is exhilirating.

The funnest part was one long downhill that obviously never sees direct sun since it was covered in hard-packed snow and ice. The snow was hard enough that my knobbies would barely break the crust but not let me fall through, so traction was like glue. Until you hit an ice patch, which was immediately obvious because the whole dynamic of the bike changed immediately. I had to hike-a-bike it back up same hill since every power stroke would just spin out the rear tire. Never fell once the whole ride, even though there must have been a good dozen long sections that were snow/ice. And the only times I walked the whole ride were the aforemention hill and another section of pure ice, I managed to ride up the ice and snow everywhere else.

It was also great because unlike the residential lake I normally ride around when the main trails are too muddy, there was almost noone to speak of. Ran into two roadies while on the main loop, 1 long distance runner who I saw 3 times over my first hour, and some people walking their dogs.

I have found my new weekend training spot for the winter.