Bicycles Unlimited - A Snowy and Icy Plains Ride 2-17-09

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A Snowy and Icy Plains Ride 2-17-09

Written by Bob Perry

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

It was a fairly crisp 25 degrees out when I pulled into the parking area at the Bookmill in Montague a little after 6:15 last night. I was greeted there by Mark Newton, Matt Ballard and Ed Hoffmeister and Curt. I had gotten dressed before leaving the shop so after unloading Curt and my bikes from the van I was set to go. I led the boys from the parking area over to the Telephone Pole Trail.

After I made the turn I looked for the trail and all I saw was a huge snowbank right in front of me. At this point I had hopped off my bike and was about to climb over the 10 foot high snowbank when Mark noticed a trail off to the right. It seems that the snowmobile riders had gone around the snow piles and made a new trailhead. Curt was the first onto the trail and I followed the group in last place. Once over the snowbank we got onto what can only be described as a “snow paved highway”. The trail was rock solid and smooth and we rode easily up the hill to the Firepit. It was only when we stopped that I noticed that neither Mark nor Matt had studded tires. I mentioned that although the trails were perfect at this point, that could change and they should be alert to the possibility of ice. After the brief stop I led the crew down to Old Northfield Road where I made my usual glove switch. (For those of you who don’t ride in the winter; the reason for the switch is that I wear heavily insulated gloves to warm up and then I switch to lighter neoprene gloves for riding on the trails.) I always carry at least two pairs of gloves and one pair of wool socks just in case I or someone else has a problem. After we got going I followed Ed over to the Second First Left and we headed down the trail. We hadn’t gotten very far before we encountered a large section of ice. This was the smooth, slick variety and Ed and I rode across it with no problem. I yelled back to Mark and Matt to watch out but it was too late. Mark either did not see it or could not avoid it and he crashed head first into the crusty snow. I stopped and rode back and saw that Mark was just getting up from the snow. When I shined my light on him I could see that he had a nasty cut on his lip and under his right eye. At this point I thought that Mark was going to pack it in and head back to the car…but no, he gamely brushed off the snow, spit out some blood and soon we were underway again. This time I put myself at the back and let Mark and Matt set the pace so that if there was any ice they would see it first. Well we rode down the trail and it was pretty much perfectly packed snow and mostly ice free. Since I was now at the back of the line I did not see the left turn onto the Snowshoe Trail until everyone was past it. When we got to the end of the trail we decided to turn around and head back instead of riding on the hardtop road to the next trailhead. We cruised down the trails over to the Banked Trails and for the most part it was a pretty nice easy run. We took the usual route over to Willis Hill Road and decided to try to climb up the hill. The trail was pretty solid on the lower slopes but by the time we got about half way up the hill the snow got pretty soft and Curt and I bogged down. The rest of the guys rode up the hill but Curt and I had to hoof it for a short ways. From the middle of the hill I led the boys over to the Swamp Road and started up the hill to Red Rock. Again, I got bogged down in the softer snow (not nearly as many snowmobiles on this trail to pack it down) and once again Curt and I had to hoof it. When we got to Red Rock I took a sharp left while the rest of the guys cut straight over to the main trail. We rode down Red Rock on really a nice fast, smooth highway of packed snow. We rode out to Plains Road and took a right to head for the power lines. The first part of the trail was great, with hard packed snow that was perfect for non-studded tires but the second have of the trail was a frozen river of ice. Ed and Curt both dropped a front wheel through the thinner ice before we all got onto more solid slick ice. Ed, Curt and I rode along at a pretty good clip, leaving Mark and Matt to walk on the slicker ice and ride only when the conditions warranted. I said to Curt “Maybe we should stop and wait for those guys” to which Curt replied “Why? I am having too much fun to stop now” and so we continued on to the end of the river of ice. Once back on snow Curt and I did go back to find Mark and Matt but by that time they both were riding on the ice anyway. Once everyone was back on the snow we rode over to the power lines and headed for the Toilet Bowl Trail. This, it turns out, was a mistake on my part because had I stayed on the power lines I would have had a nice rock hard trail to ride on. But instead I ended on a trail that had very little snowmobile traffic and both Curt and I did a good part of the trial on foot. Mark, Matt and Ed were a fair ways ahead of both Curt and I and by the time I got out to the Banked Trails where they were waiting I was pretty tired and my feet were getting cold from walking in the snow. Mercifully the Banked Trails were rock hard and we soon were flying down the trail and making our way back to the Telephone Pole Trail. Once on the TPT I went to the front and pretty much cruised back to the hardtop road. I led the boys back to the parking spot and we quickly got our gear stowed. It was in the parking area that I finally got a good look at Mark’s injuries. He had a pretty good cut on his lip and he will also have a pretty good shiner under his right eye. So, except for Mark’s mishap the ride was one of the better winter rides we have had in quite some time.

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Last Updated ( Friday, 01 May 2009 )

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