12/27/15 Snow Riding on the Mountain with Jamie Wells
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 4:10 pm
Christmas. Presents and lethargic things to do, while eating too much. When Jamie said she'd be down to visit her fam over Christmas and wanted to go riding, I was all over it like a bad suit. However, the weather gods had not been nice lately, and the locals were talking about how much they rode all last winter. There was a LOT of snow up on the mountain, so I confirmed with her the night before, bolted up my studded tires and planned for a good time. I wasn't disappointed, especially since it's been awhile since I've gone on a more-brisk ride!
I picked Jamie up and we made our way to the Pair A Dice Staging Area (Just out of Jacksonville). Low and behold, we were the ONLY ones there! She was on her trusty 200 with new knobs and I was on my reliable 300 with (mostly) studded tires. How bad could it get?
We eventually took off (per the video below) and the snow appeared rather quickly. We made our way eventually up to Lilly Prairie and decided to stay on the granite side of things. Wow, it had really snowed aplenty over the last week or so, but Jamie was persistent and we kept trudging along. She was on the Team USA ISDE Women's Team this last fall in Slovakia and she was rocking the Team USA Skunk Hat - so jealous! And all day she had no problems with any of the trails - she rocks!
Windfalls were the big obstacles and we did end up on one particular trail that had multiple windfalls. It was brutal, however we got through them eventually and I plan on going back with a chainsaw to start clearing out the windfalls this week. I only had a wood zig and many of the trees were too big for it.
Along the way we met other hearty souls who were out enjoying the great riding. Little did we know that they would be instrumental in helping us clear out a tree later in the day.
Jamie and I did an impromptu photo session that ended up with this. How can you take a bad photo with such an awesome subject?!
Later on, we came across yet another windfall across the trail. Instead of riding around it (like others), we decided to take it out. That's when the three other guys happened upon us working on the tree and they graciously helped us move that bad boy off the trail - thanks guys!
At the end of the day, we didn't do a lot of miles, but we had plenty of smiles! I was glad to ride with one of my riding friends from up north and I hope I gave her a good time on the mountain!
-Tom
<----Click on the 'Vimeo' logo to watch in HD and larger screen!
I picked Jamie up and we made our way to the Pair A Dice Staging Area (Just out of Jacksonville). Low and behold, we were the ONLY ones there! She was on her trusty 200 with new knobs and I was on my reliable 300 with (mostly) studded tires. How bad could it get?
We eventually took off (per the video below) and the snow appeared rather quickly. We made our way eventually up to Lilly Prairie and decided to stay on the granite side of things. Wow, it had really snowed aplenty over the last week or so, but Jamie was persistent and we kept trudging along. She was on the Team USA ISDE Women's Team this last fall in Slovakia and she was rocking the Team USA Skunk Hat - so jealous! And all day she had no problems with any of the trails - she rocks!
Windfalls were the big obstacles and we did end up on one particular trail that had multiple windfalls. It was brutal, however we got through them eventually and I plan on going back with a chainsaw to start clearing out the windfalls this week. I only had a wood zig and many of the trees were too big for it.
Along the way we met other hearty souls who were out enjoying the great riding. Little did we know that they would be instrumental in helping us clear out a tree later in the day.
Jamie and I did an impromptu photo session that ended up with this. How can you take a bad photo with such an awesome subject?!
Later on, we came across yet another windfall across the trail. Instead of riding around it (like others), we decided to take it out. That's when the three other guys happened upon us working on the tree and they graciously helped us move that bad boy off the trail - thanks guys!
At the end of the day, we didn't do a lot of miles, but we had plenty of smiles! I was glad to ride with one of my riding friends from up north and I hope I gave her a good time on the mountain!
-Tom
<----Click on the 'Vimeo' logo to watch in HD and larger screen!