Sunday, February 01, 2009

Warm, steamy fun on a frosty night

Fat bikes 'n' beer, a great combination

Saturday’s Frigid Bits ride was a lesson in optimism. After weeks of crappy conditions brought on by our mid-January thaw, winter returned on Friday with several inches of new snow. It was easy to think the trails would squirrelly with all that new powder.

But the beauty of a snowy Friday followed by a sunny Saturday is that tons of people got out and pack the trails for us. The temps were cold, the trails were firm, and the Frigid Bits Burn Barrel was glowing hot when we got back to the parking lot. The ride was fat-bike heaven, but still pretty good, even for the riders on skinnies.

The good ol’ Grill Meister was with us while he’s back in town for the Susitna 100, and there were several new faces in the crowd. A few of the regulars who couldn’t make the ride still managed to show up and look homeless with the rest of us as we stood around the barrel drinking beer until the bitter end. All was right with the world. OK, I guess not, but at least all was right with our tiny slice of it.

If you're a local rider, don’t let fresh snow glue you to the couch the next time it falls right before a Frigid Bits ride. Chances are, the trails will be fine (if not, you can sit on the back and let the fat bikes pave the way) and even if the trail conditions are rough, a hard ride and some beers by the fire are always better than a night in front of the tube.

5 comments:

Grill Meister said...

Amen to no TV. I had great fun even though I was a the limit of my endurance. Doing the Frigid Bits after putting in 6 plus hours of training earlier in the day was still a boat load of fun. The ride home post FBBB wasn't too bad either. It was interesting to ride all the way down Tudor road on the shoulder since the trails hadn't been plowed.

Grill Meister

Anonymous said...

grill meister, you are an animal!!!
i would have loved to have been there. started phys therp on the knee today. xrays were good and the mri came back clean, so off to p/t where they do thier thing w/ the knee and surrounding muscles to get things losened up again. they said i should be fixed up in no time, sure hope so. went around the corner to paramount and drooled over a sweet pugs they have there right now, a really nice build w/ some really sweet parts. maybe next winter.......

MELI. said...

bikes+beer+snow= super
I bet it was a ton of fun!

Unknown said...

Love your blog and love the idea of post ride BBQ and Beer! I'm wondering about the pogies I see in your photos, what brand are you guys using or are they home made?
All the best from Iceland!

Tim said...

There are probably several brands of pogies visible in any shot from a Frigid Bits event. I'm now using a pair from Dogwood Designs here in Alaska. The folks at Paramount Cycles sell them, and Greg at Speedway Cycles might have them as well. You can contact both shops through my "Alaska Stuff" links.

If you need pogies for truly hardcore conditions, contact Eric at Epic Designs, which is also linked on my page. Eric makes expedition-strength pogies by hand here in Anchorage.