Is This A Logo??

Is This A Logo??

Thursday 29 December 2016

Old Years?

Well I guess the holidays have gotten me off track...missed Tuesday's post...luckily no one noticed.  Hmmm??  But I guess the holidays can have that effect...to screw things up some...



It was a great Christmas at the Riot house...friends visiting...Matty Tee made it home for a few days!  Wish Katy Tee and Felix could have made it but they celebrated in ToonTown...





Some prefer boxing day...





And Lois got all her wishes this Christmas, and came away smiling...and so is Jon BonJovi apparently...and his band...

Just kidding...it's obvious I beat Jon Bon Jovi in the looks department...






Right??  Ah well...maybe not...but I can mountain bike...sort of...

Anyways...as far as mountain biking goes, it has been quite the Mother of Nature show this week!!  Every type of condition possible I think...from two feet of snow requiring trail grooming for fatbiking and making for great Hok skiing conditions.  Then warming to enough to allow me to get a great gravel ride in on the CX bike on Christmas day...




Then refreezing to create hero frozen dirt trails...





Then a deluge of rain...creating torrents of previously frozen waterfalls...



Borers Falls 


And growths of previously frozen Fig trees...


Fig...considering riding over the falls...


In fact...it rained enough it did away with the great Hok conditions.  Then the rain froze...and the trails turned to glare ice skating rinks...


Got studs??


And now today...several inches of wet heavy snow...had me back out on the fatbike...







In search of these famous fellas...


The BicycleWorks group

But there is still ice under that snow, so if you are out there be careful!






Speaking of famous...while 2016 may not have been friendly to celebrities...this winter appears to be good to our local mtb-ers...

Some are staying famous...




Some are becoming famous...


Gunnar killin the Cross World



Darcie killin the arch world



And some are just infamous...






Speaking of infamous...ShEd Brewery is having an event on Friday evening (Dec 30th)...and it just so happens some infamous mtb-ers will be attending, to celebrate someones glorious day of unwombing...and 53rd trip around our star...and to warm up for New Years.  It's going to be a party!!!

Come on out and join!!  It should make for some worthy stories!

Stay posted!


But no Dick pics!!!

Thursday 22 December 2016

Christmas!!!

So this week saw winter officially arrive.  However, with the accumulation of snow we have so far (different than last year!!), winter has been here for a while!  But that has been great for Hok skiing, and for fatbiking!!  And that is exactly what has been going on in these parts!

In fact, I had the pleasure to introduce Blaze to the world of fat this week when he demoed this bad boy from BicycleWorks...





Et moi...







Its amazing the things you see out there this time of year...







Santa really is fat!!


Then after Blaze got his fat fill we headed back to Chez Riot...








For some backyard Christmas firepit action...






Anyway...yes Christmas is upon us this very weekend...and in the interest of such let me keep this short, sweet, and to the point.

May this Christmas see you enjoy all the love and joy your friends and family can muster!!
From Lois and Riot we wish you the merriest of Christmases.  Make it the bestest!!!

Back on Tuesday.
Stay posted!!




Tuesday 20 December 2016

Winter Trails Trials

Well, I do believe winter is now fully entrenched itself...even though tomorrow (Wednesday) is actually the first day of winter.  It was quite the winter weather this past weekend with snow, freezing rain, and more snow!

Its made the trails impassable for any type of bike, without some sort of trail grooming.  So I have been out 'grooming' my backyard trails...


After a couple of hiking passes

And there is now (already!) enough snow for snow shoeing and hok-ing....so that will be the next phase!

And I seriously often have company when I am out there...






There are groomed trails out there...I just have to drive to get there...which I am reticent to do, when there are trails right outside my door...however I will have to.  In fact, I went for a drive Sunday to scout out if there were groomed (or at least hiked/ridden/cx ski-ed) trails nearby.  When I was driving I did see a girl gingerly (cuz it was icy!) riding her mountain bike up the Valley Road climb near my house.  I wanted to pull over and ask her...
If she saw any rideable trails out there?
If it was icy?
Was she running studded tires?
What she was wearing under her kit??

But, I thought that may have been too weird...no??







Anyways...in my brief scout, it did look like the Spencer Creek trail may have had enough foot traffic to make it rideable on a fatbike.  I do not think that Christie has had enough traffic...but I suspect that Dundas Valley has.

I know that Guelph Lake trails are groomed, because Fatboy Nation has been out there...



JennKenn shredding some night Fat at Guelph Lake


And I have heard rumours that Puslinch may be rideable.

And I know that Turkey Point is groomed, because Substance Projects had the first race of the 45NRTH Ontario Fatbike Series out there on Saturday!!







Dan put a lot of work into getting the trails ready...and the word is the event was great!!




Start line action! (photo cred JeffS)



Stretched out!



There were all kinds of characters there!




Could only be Raf!  (photo cred MikeO)



That MikeO does take a great pic!! (Just sayin...) 
Karen(as tough as they come!), and Jenn.



35 kilometres of groomed trails, with the last few kilometres a wide open full out road sprint to the finish made for what has been reported as a great day!  Hot chilli ready and waiting for the finishers.  (Although I hear there was some disappointment that the pillow fight thing didn't happen...)

And as a huge surprise, JeffS ended up on the podium!!  (Yes, that was sarcasm...)






Sadly, I could not make this one...but I will sneak in to the next one!!





May even see some True Grit soon at some of these events!!

For now...for today...I am going to get out to Hok my trails; then Blaze and I are off on Fatboys in search of rideable trails!  You coming with??  (I need a worthy story for Thursday!!!)

Stay posted!!







Thursday 15 December 2016

Christmassy

Well for everyone who was wishing for winter...it appears that it is here...and then some!!  And the forecast is for it to become a little more extreme this weekend.








Apparently some people are not so happy about winter...




But we do live in Canada...and it is mid December...so it is to be expected!!  It is now perfect fatbike conditions...and Dan's winter Fatbike Race series starts this weekend.  So, embrace it!!






As mentioned it is now mid-December....and I promised a Christmassy post for today...we finally got our decorations up...





Actually this is our tree...




Light please...


get away from there Max!!


And the star/angel...


Taz!!


The dirty socks hung on the railing with care...





The Christmas/Santa hats....all high and lofty...




I got Lois a special Christmas outfit...cuz I'm thoughtful like that...






Lois...


Anyways... while the internetz is full of suggested gifts for mountain bikers...may I suggest promoting supporting local??  Perhaps your LBS has a seasonal sale...


My LBS in Waterdown


Renew your local/favourite trail membership??  There are too many to mention, and I will likely miss one...but you know where you like to ride...

If you need a Christmas card head to Freewheel Cycle in Dundas and pick up one of Jany's handcrafted art cards...





Actually this is the coolest non local, mtb related (almost) item I have seen out there...




Especially for the bikepacker...

Anyways I'm not preaching about supporting local, just seems like the Canadian thing to do...and speaking of...it doesn't get more Canadian than this warning at a trailhead in Alberta...




Anyways, I am running on...Christmas is coming...winter is here...

I have been fighting a winter flu bug (or something similar) all week, so far successfully but I feel it still hanging on.  So I haven't been out on the trails yet this week (since Sunday), but it is supposed to warm up to -27 degrees (or something)...so I need to get out there...at the risk of physical health to preserve mental health.  I know many of you have been, so the trails should be broken in now, right??

Make a great weekend!  Ride safe!!

Stay posted!