Snow biking

Wait, it's not as crazy as it sounds. Like anything, biking snow-covered trails can be taken too far, leaving others to question a rider's sanity. But I put in many more boring hours on an indoor trainer before I discovered biking on snowmobile trails.

I was living near Fairbanks, Alaska, at the time. The prospect of staying off the bike all winter or riding indoors wasn't very appealing. I'm very happy I did neither.

But biking in the snow is crazy, right? Why not stick to more sane activities, like skiing or snowshoeing or just sitting and pining for warmer weather?

People have been riding bikes in the cold since bikes were invented. And brave souls have probably been pedaling on snowmobile trails since bikes were outfitted with tires wide enough to support their riders' weight on packed snow.

Snow biking doesn't need to involve pushing your bike hundreds of miles or risking frozen appendages, although more of those opportunities are popping up (see sidebar). With a little forethought, discomfort need not be felt. Many participants in snow biking races don't really race, after all. They just want to challenge themselves to finish. The more I ride in the snow, the more I enjoy doing it. The races come where they may.

Consider that the winners of the American Birkebeiner ski marathon train in cold weather. The winners' average speeds approaches 15 mph. A fast average riding speed on a bike in snow is around 10 mph. Is snow biking all that much different from skiing when it comes to exposure to the cold? If snow biking is extreme then so is skiing.

Snow biking isn't crazy. Trying to ride a skinny-tired road bike on ice may be, through.

I like road biking fine, mind you, and I typically put a couple of thousand miles a year on the road. But my heart is in mountain biking. And in the winter I can ride trails I can't in the summer. I'm talking about trails that in warm weather are too rough, where I'd run the risk of having large animals trample me and when I'd be trespassing. In winter, thousands more miles of trails are open to snowmobiles and bikes. The trails are smooth, the bulls are generally off in a feedlot somewhere and I don't have lots of other riders with which to contend.

Like I said before: people have been riding bikes in the cold since bikes were first put into use. It can be done. It can also be done badly, resulting in cold toes and slipping. Here are some tips on how to have fun biking in snow:

1.)?Dress in layers, including fabric that gets rid of moisture. Synthetics are good but wool is the original miracle fiber.

2.)?Consider using poagies, which are kind of like big mittens that stay attached to your handlebars allowing you to pull your hands out easily. With your hands inside them, you can wear fairly light gloves and more easily shift and brake.

3.)?There are a few makers of winter biking shoes that can keep your feet warm in moderate cold. They exist but they're expensive. But there are lots of fast snow bikers who use everyday winter footwear on regular flat pedals. I am one of those bikers (except I'm not particularly fast).

4.)?Outfit your bike with the fattest tires that your frame will allow and ride them at the lowest pressure you can without getting pinch flats. If your tires are 2 inches wide, about 20 pounds of pressure should do. If you're careful, 10 pounds isn't out of the question. Just carry a spare tube.

Think snowshoes: The bigger the footprint, the better you float. Now picture riding over a small chunk of ice. Instead of rebounding off the ice, a low-pressure tire wraps around the ice and absorbs the bump. The upshot is a smoother ride and better traction.

There are bikes made specially for riding in snow. The Surly Pugsley is the best known. The standard snow tire is 3.7 inches wide. On those you can ride on a ridiculously low 3 pounds of pressure, which is ideal in soft snow.

Sure, these bikes are nice, but not essential. Consider the fact that the Iditabike race started in 1987, almost 20 years before the introduction of the Pugsley. So don't think you have to drop 1,500 to 2,000 clams on such a bike. I don't have one and I still ride in the snow.

5.)?On ice, use studs. Period. Although snowmobile trails are generally not icy, sometimes they are. That being said, it's surprising how much traction you can get simply by lowering your tire pressure.

It is possible to make your own studded tires using sheet metal screws. I've done it, but be warned: It takes around 200 screws per tire and a significant investment of time punching them through. If you do this, be sure to glue a strip of heavy cloth onto the tire between the tube and the screw heads or they will pop the tube. When they work, you'll be able to nonchalantly carve turns on glare ice.

Unless you have some kind of traction on your boots, though, don't expect to be able to dismount halfway up a hill and not slip back to the bottom. Also expect that if you get ice on your rims, your rim brakes will be rendered useless.

6.)?If your hands or feet get cold, just get off and walk or run until they warm up. It's amazing how much this can help. Blood just circulates better in hands that aren't supporting your weight and in feet that are walking rather than feet that are constantly pedaling.

7.)?Use chemical warmers - the charcoal ones that activate when exposed to air. I would advise against becoming too reliant on them, however. When it gets really cold and you need them to work the most, they won't. I was out riding last winter when my hands started getting cold. I broke open some heat packs to no avail. It was 25 below zero, which would have left me in serious trouble had I been relying on those things and not also wearing poagies and gloves.

8.)?Be visible. You can usually hear snowmobiles a long way off and can get out of the way. But sometimes they sneak up on you. In such instances, make sure they can see you. The new four-stroke snowmobile engines are quieter than the old two-cycle engines, although that's not saying much. Their riders will be wearing helmets restricting their view. And your hearing will be compromised under layers of headgear. Whatever you do, play it safe.

9.)?If you encounter snowmobilers, stop, yield the trail and wave. Even if you think snowmobiles are noisy, smelly and generally obnoxious, as I do, show their riders respect. Without them, it is unlikely the trail you're riding would exist.

10.)?Dial down your expectations for speed. For a snow biker, the average speed over a long distance is typically under 10 mph. While you're going slow, take the time to look around. The winter landscape is beautiful.

In summary, put some warm boots and mittens on, let some air out of your tires and go for a ride. You don't have to drop all sorts of money on special gear to do that. It really is fun, I promise.

SIDEBAR

Prior to participating, I had heard of Iditabike racers pushing 60 miles nonstop in the dark. "I'll never do anything like that," I remember telling myself. (I have since raced the Susitna 100, Iditabike's successor, and the 135-mile Arrowhead Ultra in northern Minnesota.)

First held in 1987, Iditabike was definitely heading in the direction of a crazy undertaking. The course was 200 miles and took nearly 34 hours to complete. And the winner was decided by a sprint finish. And at least one rider suffered severely frostbitten feet.

We've learned a thing or two about biking in the snow since '87, thankfully. And the popularity of biking (and skiing and running) in the snow is increasing. The Arrowhead Ultra, a 135-mile race across northern Minnesota in which participants can bike, run or ski, had 102 starters this past February 2. (Of those, just 60 finished the race due to challenging conditions.) That's up from 59 starters last year.

The Susitna 100, a 100-miler in Alaska scheduled for mid-February but after this issue went to press, had reached its cap of 125 entrants. The Iditarod Trail Invitational, held February 28, is another Alaska race you can bike, ski or trudge - your choice of 350 miles or 1,100 miles. With an entry fee of $900 and a 50-person limit, there was a surprisingly long waiting list.

New this year is the White Mountains 100, a 100-mile race to be held near Fairbanks, Alaska, in late March - when there will at least be a decent chance of above-zero temps, during the daylight hours of the race, anyway. The organizers of the White Mountains event also set a limit of 50 participants. As of this writing, there were 16 people on the waiting list.

Nearer to most of us is the Triple D race that starts in Dubuque, Iowa, heads to Dyersville and then returns to Dubuque. This past January 9, the event had 49 starters.

In northern Wisconsin, the Tuscobia Ultra was held for the first time on December 19. Forty-five people started the 75-mile Tuscobia race. There's talk of adding a 200-mile option next December.

At all of these races you can bike, ski or run. And you can decide which to do the morning of the events. That way, if the trails turn out to be rock hard and best to bike, you can choose that mode of transportation at the last minute. If it's warm and the trails are softer, it may be better to ski.

Although no snow bike event is likely to get as big as the Chequamegon 40, there is clearly a small but growing number of hard-core cyclists that take biking in the snow seriously.

- J.A.