REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Best Place in CT for winter ride

2635 Views 23 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Jisch, Dec 5, 2005

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · Nov 22, 2005

I know I don't want to try riding Case or Soapstone when there are four inches of snow on the ground. I've been out to MDC reservoir a couple of times in cold weather, but never really got the feel of whether it was a good spot for winter riding. Riding the rails to trails is boring. What are some good places to ride when the weather gets foul?

1 - 20 of 24 Posts

Wheeldog

· #2 · Nov 23, 2005

Guyechka said:
I know I don't want to try riding Case or Soapstone when there are four inches of snow on the ground. I've been out to MDC reservoir a couple of times in cold weather, but never really got the feel of whether it was a good spot for winter riding. Riding the rails to trails is boring. What are some good places to ride when the weather gets foul?

The Reservoir is pretty good. There is a hardcore group of ice bikers that used to go off there every Sunday morning at 8:00. I tend to usually go up at Robinson S.P. in Agawam MA (just over the line), since it is not very technical but is pretty big and offers some nice Winter scenery. I'm not out for any hardcore technical stuff on Winter rides - it's enough just to be out there riding XC trails.

Let me know if you're interested in riding sometime. I'm itching to put my Nokians on.

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 23, 2005

Let me know if you're interested in riding sometime. I'm itching to put my Nokians on.

[/QUOTE]

Hold on, there! It hasn't started snowing just yet!!

Yeah, I'm not as interested in technical trails in the winter, either. I just want something that is going to be fairly clear, longish (15-20 miles), and have some decent climbs/descents.

Jisch

· #4 · Nov 23, 2005

Salmon River

Some nice, kinda technical riding out at Salmon River in Colchester. If you start at the Comstock Bridge and climb up to Day Pond, it's a serious climb. Making it into a longer loop takes some local knowledge. Its not as technical as Case or Snip.

If you pick trails carefully, the Snip isn't bad at all. Its my typical winter ride. If I can't ride the trails due to snow, I can always ride the dirt roads or find a snowmobile or MX track to follow. I had an awesome ice ride with studs out there last year following an MX track for miles. I actually found a few 'new to me' trails on that ride. Its so cool to be able to climb an icy hill with the studs.

John

Wheeldog

· #5 · Nov 23, 2005

Guyechka said:
Hold on, there! It hasn't started snowing just yet!!

Yeah, I'm not as interested in technical trails in the winter, either. I just want something that is going to be fairly clear, longish (15-20 miles), and have some decent climbs/descents.

Hey, it's supposed to snow tomorrow!

Yeah, I know I'm a little overanxious with the snow/ice riding. If you're North of Hartford I'd still recommend Robinson since it fits your description pretty well. In normal (Summer) conditions I'd call it a good cardio or speed XC course, but definitely not for the freeride or aggressive XC crowd. Lots of doubletrack, a little technical singletrack, lots of shorter climbs/descents, and you can make a 15-mile ride out of it without going in circles too much.

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 23, 2005

just say NO to SNOW!

Now they've changed the forecast to rain, like that's any better. I went out today to inspect Case. At first glance it appeared ok, but the streams are definitely high and there are some marshy spots. I think the new bridge on the swamp trail is going to be under water if it does rain again.

Actually, I'm in Manchester, so Robinson may be a tad out of the way. I might still look into it, though. And I may have to spend an entire day out at MDC to figure out all the places to ride. I swear, every time I go there I end up taking exactly the same trails, and I always have to come back the wrong way on the one way section around the res.

Wheeldog

· #7 · Nov 24, 2005

Guyechka said:
Now they've changed the forecast to rain, like that's any better. I went out today to inspect Case. At first glance it appeared ok, but the streams are definitely high and there are some marshy spots. I think the new bridge on the swamp trail is going to be under water if it does rain again.

Actually, I'm in Manchester, so Robinson may be a tad out of the way. I might still look into it, though. And I may have to spend an entire day out at MDC to figure out all the places to ride. I swear, every time I go there I end up taking exactly the same trails, and I always have to come back the wrong way on the one way section around the res.

Well if I were you I'd give Case in the Winter a try then if you're in Manchester. Once there's a bit of snow and things freeze up I think it actually knocks down the 'technicality' of trails - sort of evens the terrain out a bit. As long as you can get traction on icy spots you're okay.

bottom feeder

· #8 · Nov 24, 2005

Studs Baby

If you can swing the ching for this bling get a pair of studded tires. They're heavy but you wont care what mother nature throws at you this winter if you run with them. The temperature will be your only factor. I ran all last winter and the only problem I had was that I would gain too much confidence in thier traction and push them untill the ice won and I was on my a_ _. Went riding on lakes and had the ice fisherman looking like deer caught in the head lights.

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 24, 2005

I stand corrected

That's the last time I believe ctnow's forecast! First they were predicting snow, then it changed to rain. What does it do? Stupid snow.

The truth of the matter is that I have a mud bike for the winters. It's an old race bike, which is great for fire roads and not so technical single track. But it's not so good for big rock gardens and steep descents. Therein lies the dilemma: do I buy studded tires for an old bike, or do I let it go and try to find something rideable with regular tires? I'm worried that as soon as I get snow tires for it it will break in half.

Wheeldog

· #10 · Nov 25, 2005

Guyechka said:
That's the last time I believe ctnow's forecast! First they were predicting snow, then it changed to rain. What does it do? Stupid snow.

The truth of the matter is that I have a mud bike for the winters. It's an old race bike, which is great for fire roads and not so technical single track. But it's not so good for big rock gardens and steep descents. Therein lies the dilemma: do I buy studded tires for an old bike, or do I let it go and try to find something rideable with regular tires? I'm worried that as soon as I get snow tires for it it will break in half.

I'm not sure I entirely understand your predicament, but I only have one MTB (a hardtail), so it ends up being my race bike / trail bike / mud bike /ice bike. At least I bought a road bike this year so the hardtail doesn't have to be my road bike anymore. I'm probably going to buy a FS *something* this coming Spring.

Why worry about the old bike falling apart after you put studs on? You can take the tires off you know . . .

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 25, 2005

Wheeldog said:
I'm not sure I entirely understand your predicament, but I only have one MTB (a hardtail), so it ends up being my race bike / trail bike / mud bike /ice bike. At least I bought a road bike this year so the hardtail doesn't have to be my road bike anymore. I'm probably going to buy a FS *something* this coming Spring.

Why worry about the old bike falling apart after you put studs on? You can take the tires off you know . . .

I meant that the bike itself is probably worth about as much as I would spend on studded tires. I'm not sure it would even stand up to the rigors of snow riding. It's rusted out, and even if it weren't, the frame is still on the dainty side. Then there is the "other" bike, and I don't want to take it out in the winter. You know, the one you spend the mega money on is the one that gets pampered and hardly ridden. Why, supposing I bought studded tires and then broke my frame. I would be forced to buy another frame! I don't think I could bring myself to do that.

Jisch

· #12 · Nov 27, 2005

Make studded tires...

I just made studded tires. Cost me $4 or so for the screws. They work great. Heavier than Nokians, but I'm not going fast in the snow/ice anyway.

John

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 27, 2005

Jisch said:
I just made studded tires. Cost me $4 or so for the screws. They work great. Heavier than Nokians, but I'm not going fast in the snow/ice anyway.

John

Been thinking about doing it. What sort of screws do you use? What sort of tires do you need? All mine have large knobbies, and I'm not sure that the screws work with them, or maybe you put the screws in between the knobs? And what about the heads on the inside of the tire? Are they going to pop my tubes?

Jisch

· #14 · Nov 28, 2005

Step by step...

Guyechka said:
Been thinking about doing it. What sort of screws do you use? What sort of tires do you need? All mine have large knobbies, and I'm not sure that the screws work with them, or maybe you put the screws in between the knobs? And what about the heads on the inside of the tire? Are they going to pop my tubes?

1) Any old tire works - bigger knobs are better for the screws to bite into, wider tires are better for float over the snow.

2) Use chalk to mark knobs where you want to install the studs, you want the studs to be on knobs, not between them. Ideally you should have 4 screws in contact with the ground at a time - its a lot of screws!

3) Using a broken spoke as a drill bit in an electric drill, drill into the tire where you made the chalk marks. Doing this ensures your screws hit knobs where there is something for them to hold on to.

4) Buy a box of screws. In some industrial settings they use metal instead of wood for framing walls. The screws they use to hold the framing together are 7/16" long and have a rounded head.

5) Using an electric screwdriver (or if you have really strong wrists - you can do this manually - the repetition's a killer!) put the screws in from the inside of the tire. Its advisable to wear work gloves for this step, as you get the tire loaded up with scews it starts to get kind of pointy.

6) Use a bolt cutter to cut the screws off flush with the rubber knobs. As aggressive as it looks with the points of the screws sticking out, if you don't cut them off you will pick up massive amounts of leaves.

7) Cut two tubes (or one heavy tube) lengthwise and lay it in against the screws, this will be a liner to protect your tube from the screw heads. This year I'm going to try to glue the liner in, its pretty difficult to mount the tire with the liner floating free. I've also heard people using duct tape for the liner, that would probably work equally well.

8) Mount it up and ride...

I did a ride at Case yesterday morning, it was great. The snow made traction a bit iffy here and there. Between the ice, snow and leaves, I don't think my tires hit dirt the whole ride. Studs were not necessary. The down side is one of my buddies over rotated on a drop and broke 2 ribs, it was a painful ride out for him.

John

See less See more

Guyechka

Discussion Starter · #15 · Nov 28, 2005

thanks

Now it's time for me to go experiment.

I was out hiking Case on Saturday and was surprised at how quickly the snow had been packed down by bike tires. It was like a single track of ice. Looked kind of scary to ride (hell, it was scary to walk some sections!).

Wheeldog

· #16 · Nov 28, 2005

Studs are definitely for ice, not snow. Cool thing about studs is they let you easily ride on stuff that you'd have a hard time just standing up on.

ctxcrossx

· #17 · Dec 2, 2005

Wow...no one has yet mentioned one of the best places to ride, and it's almost in his backyard.....Gay City State Park. This place is great. It's very much like Robinson (Agawam, MA) with not too many technicals.

By the way, does anyone else have a Surly Pugsley? I tried mine for the first time last week in the snow and the thing is incredible!

Chris

Wheeldog

· #18 · Dec 2, 2005

I've never ridden at Gay City, only Case. So what width rear tire are you running on your Pugsley? That bike has gotten really good reviews from what I understand. It makes you laugh just looking at it at first.

GCM

· #19 · Dec 3, 2005 (Edited)

Jisch said:
I just made studded tires. Cost me $4 or so for the screws. They work great. Heavier than Nokians, but I'm not going fast in the snow/ice anyway.

John

edit - Ok scratch this whole post - I didn't read far enough down to see that you detailed out the whole procedure. Thanks.

Hey John, I've been thinking about doing this for awhile...I assume you just take wood screws and screw them in from the inside-out. Do you use washers? Anything else I should know? how about size? About 1/2 inchers?

P.S. I've been off the bike for close to 3 weeks - since the nasty OTB I did. The knee is still not fully drainded - may have to see the Doc again

. In anycase, I think I'll try an easy ride this weekend...

Jisch

· #20 · Dec 4, 2005

Today...

Went out to Soapstone/Snip today. Started with about 2" of snow on the ground, maybe there was 3.5" by the time we finished. It was a great ride. We cut the mileage in half from what we usually do, but I'm sure if I had a bike computer on the rear wheel you'd see that the rear wheel spun like a "long" ride - slip, slip, slip...

There were some downhills today that had that amazing ski-like quality - sliding out the corners, carving around the trees. Definitely an excellent winter ride. We had to avoid a lot of the more technical areas and anywhere it was wet really sucked - especially for Unsprung who has rim brakes.

John

1 - 20 of 24 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.