Last Saturday, New Year’s Eve, I met Jeff Homan, the National Mountain Bike Patrol rep for the Rock Cut Trail Crew, to video tape the segment on winter riding for TrailTapes. The shoot went well, and we got in a short ride through the snow on the 3-mile loop of singletrack at Espenscheid forest preserve. I’m in the process of editing the show and am on target to launch the first episode at the end of the month.

Last Saturday there was still snow on the ground. Then the rains came Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and warm temps in the 40’s all week. Now all the snow is gone. The roads are dry and the ground isn’t even muddy anymore. Today was a lovely spring day. Only problem is it’s January. So it feels a little strange to be working on the first episode of TrailTapes with the subject of Winter Mountain Biking.

But if there’s one thing for certain, we will get snow. On Easter, most likely. But it will happen. And knowing how to dress, prep the bike and make studded tires for riding on ice will be handy information. In the meantime, I purchased a pair of Bontrager slick tires for riding the rollers. They’ll also be useful for the road trip to Ray’s Indoor MTB later this month. That segment coming in episode 2 of TrailTapes.

IMBA has posted informtion on Winter Cold Injuries.