Troll-in in the snow

I put the semi fat Surly Troll to the test today and was very impreesed to see it hold its own with "real" fatbikes on everything from deep snowdrifts, sand, ice, and slush.

Deeep snow drifts

Just finished plowing through another drift

Al was determined to get through this one....

Semi Fat Troll next to a Pugsly

Mostly slushy ice

left to right: 9 zero 7, pugsly, mukluk, troll

Another shot next to a Pugsly

Surly Troll semi-fat bike

Could not be more accurate

Continental Slash 26x2.3 tire on the rear

Continental Diesel 2.5 (measures out to 2.7 with 65mm rims) on the front with plenty of room to spare.

Still a fair amount of clearance on the rear.

After a few rides on various flavors of fat bikes and really loving high volume low pressure tires more and more I decided to put "fatties fit fine" to the real test.  My Surly Troll is rated to handle 2.7in tires and very easily lives up to that and fits 65mm wide fat bike rims great.  Since money is tight I ordered a set of Weinmann DHL65 rims that I laced to some used XT hubs we had laying around the shop.  Despite being cheap rims they laced up pretty well and actually fit in the frame without any modifications being made, I even got to keep my V-brake studs.  You do have to put the wheel in at an angle to get it around the studs but it is more than doable, even trailside like I found out earlier today.

Ute Pass

The final push to the top is a real kick in the nuts, 2.5 hours of constant climbing to get here,

Sonny killing it.

Heading back down Ute Pass into Manitou wondering if the camera would pick up the string of snot slung across my face....

Today was my first time actually going UP Ute Pass, other than a couple turns it really was not too bad although I would not want to do it if traffic was heavy..  We pedaled from the Springs to the dirt road that leads to Rampart Reservoir and back.  Despite the pace/wind I actually felt pretty good.  We rode about 44 miles, climbed almost 3400ft and averaged 13.2 mph.  Good times were certainly had and I can only imagine fitness was gained.

Pikes Peak by Bike

Nate killed it on the SS tall bike

The Troll gave me a workout today and handled it much better than I did.

You can see the hurt on my face but damn it was worth it.

Finally got to ride up Pikes Peak, we started at Crystal Reservoir which gives you about 13.5 miles and a little over 4k ft of climbing.  Everything above timberline hurt pretty bad but was very much so worth it.  I started to cramp around 13k ft, Nate on the tall bike was hearing the birds talking to him telling him things like "good job", "keep going" and then Mike crushed us the whole way up.  Coming back was without a doubt the coolest road descent I have ever done and this was one of the most rewarding times I have had on a bike ride.  Great times indeed.

Long route into the shop

Slightly different route when going the long way into the shop, its a touch over an hour to the top and a fun flowy paved decent all the way into the shop, gotta love this town!

Santa Fe Trail

Showed Jessica the Santa Fe Trail yesterday and got in just shy of 20 miles.  She is riding quite a bit stronger now and hopefully that will make a weekend bike tour go smoother along with help her when she starts to get into mountain biking.  We should be doing and easy mountain bike ride later today actually.

Fatbike in the dirt

Had my first experience riding a fat bike in the dirt, this was a night and day difference from Eleven Mile Reservoir where there was 3-4 inches of snow and below freezing.  Today was near 70 and very dusty.  I actually got a chance to see how wide tires handle single track in spring and I was very impressed with the results.  Cornering traction seemed limitless, deep sand was no problem and even without suspension I never found myself wishing for a squishy fork up front.  Traction was so good that when me and Nate switched bikes I blew out the first few corners because I was used to 4 inch wide tires.  Once again I really want one.