Your ride today....

[chriswoody]

The first snowy ride of 2026, so I dug the mountain bike out and headed out into the forest for some fun. The road is only lightly covered by still caution is needed and turning of into the forest I can relax a little more.

The snow is quite deep here in the forest and progress slows as we head under the trees. Temperatures are hovering around freezing so the snow isn't too wet to ride in.

I'm slowing heading north with a plan to head up towards some fire roads I know and swing around in a big loop east. The snow is deep in places though and I'm struggling to make headway, my speed dropping to around 7kph.

The forest here is all plantations and it's an artificial man made environment, but there is a strange beauty to the patterns the rows of trees make.

I take and break for a short while at a crossing and take stock over a flapjack. I concede at my pace I will never make my planned route so I decide to cut it short. It's slow, heavy going out here and I can still have as much enjoyment on a shorter route.

I carry on north for a while before taking the north westerly route at a fork. Normally it's deep sand here, but today it's deep snow impeding my progress. Slowly we make our way through the forest, nothing else has been out here and I'm breaking trail through the snow.

Taking another fire road now towards a main road crossing, I'm suddenly disturbed and look across to see a car dangerously close to me, I'm less than impressed. You do see the odd car from time to time on these fire roads, but passing me so close in these conditions is seriously not ok. I'm soon back into deep forest though and away from car driving idiots.

I'm slowing heading back towards home, with the emphasis on slow. I'd forgotten how heavy going it is in these conditions, my legs are definitely feeling it. I'm happy and content though as I slog along, under my wheels I can see deer tracks in the snow and overhead a Buzzard is circling.

I'm into the last kilometres now and I'm hungry, my head drops for a while as I focus on keeping my legs turning. Finally the last of the forest trails appear and before long I'm home. I've covered 34 km today in a very slow fashion, but as hard as it was, it was still a great ride. Hopefully the snow hangs around for a while.

 

[sevenfourate]

Great write-up; and pics @chriswoody 👌

 

[wafter]

I have pretty much lost interest in cycling, I don’t know what happened, I just stopped apart from the odd utility ride. However I’m currently on holiday in Oz, and we decided to hire a couple of E-bikes to ride around Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, about 25 miles of paved traffic free paths.
First proper go on an e-bike, good fun it was too. About 30 miles in 28° sunshine.

I thought I’d share.
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Nice to see you back

 

[wafter]

The usual utility waft today, give or take; pared back due to the threat of rain later in the day as well as the hope of retaining some energy for kickboxing later.. although I might have failed on that front.

A fairly utilitarian route to work, a few charity shops, the butchers and home. Out for about three hours / 18 miles, air temp significantly up on paper but it didn't much feel like it thanks to all the damp hanging in the air. A lot more confident in the face of obviously less ice, however there was still the odd little patch about.

Took the camera resulting in a few mediocre shots and my probably getting colder than I needed to. While I love both activities in isolation, I find combining photography and cycling is always a pain in the arse...

Today's ride also marks a milestone - the Fuji now having rolled past 6000 miles in the 3.3ish years its been in my possession. About 3.5k of those miles have been covered since I moved eight months ago

 

[chriswoody]

Well the storm on Saturday brought more snow, actually lots of snow, so it would be rude to not go for a ride. Overnight saw temperatures dip to minus 11, luckily it was a tad warmer when I set off.

It's pretty tough going because the high winds has caused drifts up to knee deep in places and in others the snow is barely covering the ground. I slip and slide my way through the forest trails to the South of the house with a vague plan to follow the river West and see how far I get.

The forest trails are fairly well trodden since Saturday as well as one or two cars so whilst slippery on the compacted snow, it's not to difficult. Next to me the river has frozen in places, it's quite a sight to see and a reminder of how cold it is.

I pause for a few moments to shed a layer and suck on a flapjack, this has been hard going and I'm really hot. I turn now from the well trodden path and head onto a piece of singletrack, the only thing to have been through here was a rabbit. With the bike in a nice low gear I can just about make headway through the powdery snow as I hunt for the trail through the trees.

My progress is brought to a rude holt as the trail turns to follow a fence, the wind has drifted the snow here to knee deep and there's no way I'm riding through that. I briefly contemplate turning back, but decide instead to pop the bike on my back and wade on through.

After 100m we're through and back onto shallower snow and soon riding again. Progress is slow but steady, every so often the front wheel will wipe out and I come to a shuddering halt, it's all demanding but great fun. I decide to ride a loop around the horse riding stable and head back home, it's a day where every 1 km feels like 5.

Heading round the stable I'm back onto deep snow and untrodden paths in the forest. Occasional deer and rabbit tracks are the only signs of life out here, I've managed to get into a good rhythm as I slip and slide my way through. After a few kilometers I arrive back onto the main forest track that I'd travelled down earlier and the speed can pick up. a little on the more compacted snow.

Another half an hour of concerted effort and I'm finally back home, I've only ridden 14.7 km, but it feels like 60. I averaged 10 kph and the temperature was minus 6. All in all, whilst hardly my biggest ride it was great fun and just feels so good to be out having fun on the bike in these conditions.