Mountain bike (FatBoy ) 1:10:00 [5] 9.24 km (7:35 / km) +305m 6:30 / km
ahr:154 max:174
Albion Hills Fat Fest
It was a troublesome start. The arm that grabs the top of the bike had the adjuster frozen so it wouldn't open. I got past that, and the extenders needed to lock the fat rubber were in the trunk, which was frozen shut. I started to prep the other car to carry the bike with it disassembled somewhat. Just before committing to the switch I got into the trun, so put the bike on the roof. This put me on the late side of my planned departure giving me one of the last convenient parking spots. On my way a low tree branch grabbed the top bar, which hadn't fully locked in place so extended a enough to release the tire - but close to parking so not tragic.
I wasn't expecting race time to be especially meaningful so ran the Garmin for test runs, then forgot to start it again for the race start. Neither of the bikes I wanted to test were there for demos making an Apollo Carbon the most interesting tester. As I had found previously, the weight loss offered by a carbon frame isn't particularly significant for a snow bike. At least not for me.
So...the race was about 150 in a mass start. I was maybe slightly ahead of mid pack. It was very congested up to the first single track, and correspondingly slow. The pack broke up a bit after the exit to the first single track and everyone could go their own pace until the checkpoints where things bunched up collecting cards. Just a couple of spots collecting people in the second single track after which it was clear sailing. I followed a father and so into the third single track and ended up riding to the finish mostly with them. The loop was just under an hour - about the finishing time of the 20km race leader. Congestion early probably added 10 minutes to the ride time I would likely have had on my own.
The single track was in much better shape than I expected. I think close to 3km were single track, with maybe 3 features in total that got my attention, other than not always being sure where the trail would turn given the light conditions. All of the ice was on double track and was quite manageable with my chosen 5psi tire pressure.
It was a nice outing. I've been anxious to try some of the single track to see if it would suit a fat trike. A trike absolutely would not have worked for this event. I think each of the trails we were on had at least one spot that was too narrow for a trike even in summer.
I was a bit surprised at the elevation total I ended up with. Those relatively short climbs added up.