Getting Started?

It's Spring in Anchorage, the snow is melting and it's icy in the morning (all day in the shade). In a couple of weeks the snow will have melted away but the ground will still be frozen, which means every trail that isn't paved will be a muddy mess. This is why the Municipality's policy is to close dirt trails during break-up (what we call this time of year). The dirt trails will be closed until June 1, which seems like a very long time from now.

The delay in opening the trails is all the more difficult to bear since I've been off my bike all winter. Partially due to hip surgery in October and partially due to having a full suspension bike in Alaska. It turns out extremely cold temperatures (like the ones we get here in Anchorage) are devastating on suspension components. Luckily I didn't learn this first hand.

I spent most of the winter recovering from my surgery. I was able to ride a stationary bike starting in about December, I was able to start playing hockey again in February, I went snowboarding in March, but I wasn't able to ride outside because of the whole full suspension bike thing. So now that the weather is warming up I'm ready to hit the trails. In fact, I slapped my studs on this weekend and went for a 19 mile ride (round trip from my house to Westchester Lagoon via the Chester Creek Trail).

I'm thinking I've got a couple of weeks before it gets to a point where all the dirt trails are off limits. I've also got 135 miles of paved trails I can conquer, so I'm thinking that I'll be able to keep myself busy enough. Of course these aren't the ideal conditions upon which to base a trail description. I'll have to play the blog by ear for the near future, or just ride the trials again once they are clear.