Snowbiking Chestnut Mountain Trail

Quality Bicycle Products supplied my favorite local shop, Bangtail Bikes with a couple demo snowbikes recently.  Mike and I have taken them out on three separate occasions and put roughly fifteen miles on them. 

The first rig is a Surly Pugsley:

The second rig is the newly released Salsa Mukluk: 

Both rides are equipped with Surly tires.  These tires are inflated to an amazingly low six p.s.i. of pressure and are sized at 3.8 in. (9.65 cm) wide.  The flotation from these things is spectacular for riding on snow or sand. 

It's no doubt that a number of the readers of this blog are familiar with the Pugsley snowbike; probably having heard either directly or offhandedly in their use along "The Lost Coast", Iditabike, or the Arrowhead 135.  The Salsa Mukluk frameset is new and doesn't yet have the same badass reputation as the Pugsley.  Cyclists are stoked about it however because it differs from the Pugsley in that the wheels aren't offset from center making for a slightly smoother turning action.  Personally I don't mind the offset because most of the usage of these bikes are at relatively slow speeds on highly-diverse terrain not making the offset as noticeable as it would be at speed on asphalt. 

I first rode a Pugsley in 2009 while visiting family in Minnesota.  My brother and I took them out for a trail ride in the popular mountain biking destination, Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis.  The riding on a packed snow trail is excellent and rivals summertime singletrack riding.  That evening after the trail riding we sessioned the bikes for a couple hours jibbing on snowbanks for a few hours. 

This past weekend Mike and I took the Pugsley and Mukluk to the Chestnut Mountain trailhead near Bozeman and were able to ride them about 1.5 miles up the trail before the amount of foot traffic had lessened enough to not provide an adequate riding surface.  Riding back down the 1.5 miles was exhilarating.  There's little scarier than having both front and rear disc brakes locked up as you and your bike slide left and right along a steep switchback section of trail.

View an interactive map of our route on Chestnut Mountain at Everytrail.com.

Night Mountain Bike Riding; Minneapolis, MN

I was visiting family in Minnesota for the past week and had a chance to get out with my brother who is an avid cyclist and photographer. We chose a night ride at Murphy Hanrehan Park Reserve located south of Minneapolis.

Scott was on a full-suspension Ventana and I borrowed his single-speed Salsa Selma, a fine specimen of a 29er constructed of scandium tubing with carbon seatstays. We both had high-powered HID light systems which worked well for the first seven miles until Scott's pooped out. We opted to ride a dirt road back to the trailhead rather than cut our speed in half and try to ride with one light. All in all it was superb to get out for a ride with my brother.

Photo © Scott Haraldson

View a map of the route we chose at Murphy Hanrehan on EveryTrail.

Moving by Bicycle

In June of 2009 I made up my mind to move from one apartment to the other. I also made up my mind to make this move using only bicycles and bicycle trailers. After making up my mind to do this I did some research and found some great testimony to this from other individuals and groups having done this on the Internet.

Two days ago, after I'd decided to move I found out about a contest that Madsen Cycles was putting on. If you're interested in helping me win, click this link to their site and check out their cool bicycles (it'll open in a new tab/window).

Madsen Cargo Bikes

I started off on a Sunday afternoon by loading a few plastic tubs into the "kid trailer" I pull with my Schwinn Tempo road bike.

Schwinn Tempo and Converted Kid Trailer.

After the first load with the Schwinn I sent a text message to my buddy Captain E to see if I could borrow his Madsen Cargo Bike. I did two more loads with my Schwinn/trailer combo and then heard back from Captain E so I cruised down to pick up the Madsen.

Upon retrieving the Madsen and Captain E's homemade bike trailer I could tell that this game was ON! I rode it home and began to load it up with my stuff. I've moved a lot in my day and I have numerous plastic tubs to hold just about everything. This made loading the flatbed trailer a breeze.

The Madsen loaded up.

The consecutive loads went off without a hitch as well. I was able to stack tubs on the trailer and bulky, odd-shaped items into the Madsen's ample bucket.

The snowboards depict a common site in any Bozeman move.

Note the fly rods sticking out the top of the traffic cone.

Having things packed well from the get-go is important.

Furniture, skis, you name it!

The last load I had been contemplating since the start. When I set off to make this move using only a bicycle I assumed that the last load I made would be in my automobile. I justified that I would have to move my car from one location to the next and that it made sense to load it up with stuff. Although, as I proceeded further and further with the move I became more and more stubborn to move everything with cycles. The last item left was my boxspring, mattress, and bed frame. I solicited the help of fellow members of the Bozeman bicycling community whom I know are up for general jackassery such as this. Responses from SingleTrackM1nd and tjdzor came swiftly and with great enthusiasm.

The three of us sat in the sunshine pondering the massive load, first making attempts to put the mattresses on SingleTrackM1nd's Xtracycle. The weight was no problem for the Xtracycle but the size was. It became clear, quickly that the Madsen would have to be used as the width of the bucket was idea for balancing the width of the load of the bed.

After placing the load onto the bucket one test run was made unsuccessfully but I felt confident in my abilities so we re-secured the load and set off down the street. SingleTrackM1nd and tjdzor road ahead blatantly stopping traffic at the two major intersections, laughing, shouting, and capturing video along the way. The load was precarious and it required great concentration but in the end there was SUCCESS! A whimsical video was captured by tjdzor. Check it out:


The Madsen made it all the way from point A to point B, albeit with general un-stability requiring some careful maneuvering. But, it DID make it. No egg on my face.

January Mountain Biking at Pipestone

Could be skiing...
The snowpack in Southwest Montana has been treacherous most of the winter which has kept me out of the backcountry and therefore out of backpacking or touring. I'm an active individual and I've been able to keep myself occupied snowboarding at the resort and doing a lot of cycling.
Nope, going biking...
A group of friends and I decided to take the cycling thing off the roads and onto the trails due to some unseasonably warm weather the area has been experiencing. This group of cyclists has been heading to this location for years for winter riding as there exists an interesting micro-climate in area that keeps the trails relatively snow-free most of the winter.
Pipestone...
We went riding on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 near Whitehall, Montana at a place referred to as Pipestone. It is known for it's bike trails, ORV trails, as well as it's rock climbing and bouldering. While riding we saw ATVs, dirt bikes, and even a couple climbers - all out to drink in the near tropical heat we've been having.
Joyous winter biking...
We rode for a couple hours stopping often to fix various mechanical issues - a common problem on the first ride of the year I suppose. I have no idea how many miles we put on but I'd venture to guess ten or more miles. The trails we were riding (and wrenching) on were a combination of frozen sand, ice, snow, and mud. We all ended up nice and dirty which is a sign of a quality off road ride.
The Bozeman crew...
Riders present were Casey, John, Katie, Sam, Seth, and Steve representing a varied cross section of abilities. I do not remember the last time I went off road cycling so I was very excited to be on the trail going fast (and very, very slow at times) through single track, dirt roads, and icy and snowy treads of all varieties.
Audio visual...
To better memorialize the trip I put together a video montage of the day's riding. My photo are also available from the day at my Flickr page, Pipestone Mountain Biking as well as via the thumbnails below.

Photos of a great day...