Category: weather

I can now say that I’ve fallen into Lake Huron, on a bicycle, in January. And it wasn’t a big deal.

Taking advantage of this weekend’s unseasonably warm weather (almost 60°F in mid-January along the lake!), James and I headed out to Lakeport State Park to ride on the beach and generally explore whatever we could find in the area. This was a good time, netting 2:12:16 of moving time poking around on beaches, exploring random trails in the park, and poking around some roads necessary to get around sea walls that people had built straight out to the water line. While we were able to ride around a few of them, many (as seen in this photo) simply extend out across the beach to the water line.

Due to Lakeport being a good ways north, there was also quite a bit of snow to be found both in the woods and along the beach. While poking along the beach we happened across a snow and ice-topped sand bar and decided to ride on it. This generally went well, but at one point my front wheel slipped slightly, and the place where I chose to put my foot was undercut ice, which I immediately broke through. I then tried to put my foot down on the sand below it, but being waterlogged and quicksand-ish I sank in it and toppled over into the lake, submerging most of the left half of my body and soaking my shorts, jersey, shoe, glove, and part of my bag.

The photo of me at the top of the page was taken by James just a few moments before I toppled gracefully into the water.

This was nowhear near as bad as it could have been, as I didn’t really feel cold so we just continued riding. I slowly dried off, and the rest of the ride (roughly another 1.5 hours) was great. The worst part was my left foot which had become completely waterlogged, coupled with my lack of socks due to forgetting them at home. No blisters were formed, and my foot was just starting to wrinkle by the time we were done, so everything was good.

We even found a bit of beach treasure (a Made in the USA stainless steel spoon for James and three quarters, two pennies, and one nickel all in a single pile for me) while riding along! Despite this, I think I’ll seek out a different destination for the next beach ride. This was a lot of fun, but I’d rather find a place where the beach can be ridden much further in a given direction.

The route ridden today can be seen here on Strava, and here’s some photos:

• Heading down a trail towards the beach at Lakeport State Park on an unseasonably warm January day.
• As far north as we could go, blocked by a series of sea walls.
• Looking south at the second to last seawall we were able to ride around heading north.
• James riding south along Lake Huron in some loose gravel.
• Looking down at the bar, front wheels, and sandy tire tracks.
• My Mukluk and James’ Pugs.
• Looking at the Mukluk’s rear wheel with the beach along Lakeport State Park and Lake Huron in the background.
• James walking a very sketchy snowy / icy gap in a sand/ice bar.
• James taking a photo of some sand-covered ice that looked like rocks from a distance.
• Textured, sand-covered snow and ice that looked like silt-covered rocks from a distance.
• Me / Steve standing on an ice/snow-covered sand bar just before falling into Lake Huron. Photo by James R. Zimmerman.

Being so close to the solstice the days are getting mighty short, and finding the magic combination of daylight, decent weather, decent trail conditions, and available time has been quite difficult lately. Everything worked out right this afternoon and I was able to head out to Stony Creek for a daylight ride. The El Mariachi felt like a rocket after a few weeks of riding only the Mukluk or trainer, and it was really good to get out.

I rode one lap of the 6/12 Hour Route, then rode the paved path over to the Fitness Trails, through there, then back to the trailhead. Most of the trails were in great shape, with only a few greasy corners and uphills. Some of the two track had its normal wet spots, but it was all quite acceptable for a 50°F day in mid-December. I was able to ride comfortably wearing only summer time gloves, normal shoes and socks, a short sleeve jersey, and knickers. It wasn’t bothersomely cold until I spent ~20 minutes standing around in the parking lot talking with someone.

The photo above was taken while moving, looking southwest along Stony Creek Lake from along the gravel path which comprises the Fitness Trail route. While it’s just basic, flat, wide gravel trail I think it’s one of the most scenic parts of Stony Creek and wonderful looking year round.

Just before noon Jeremy Verbeke and I set out for a ride through River Bends and Clinton River Park Trails (CRPT). I was riding my Mukluk 2 and Jeremy was on his new Specialized Epic Comp 29er and it was an excellent day for an autumn ride; cool, cloudy, and comfortable. While out at CRPT the rain started, so we hastily made our way back to River Bends and even managed to get sleeted on for a bit while in Utica.

Even though the ride got cut a bit short, it was still a really nice day. Hard riding on the way back was enough to keep warm despite the cold water falling from the sky, and I only really started feeling uncomfortable while sitting in the wet car on the way back. A warm shower once home sorted that out, just in time to get called by work and have to start looking into a problem. Oh well…

After work today I met up with Jon at the Clarkston Road crossing of the Paint Creek Trail to ride Bald Mountain and Addison Oaks. While Bald Mountain was a bit wet Addison was so wet that we skipped the second half (and most fun part) of the trail. Still, it was nice to get out and ride some single track, particularly something other than Stony Creek. This isn’t to imply that Stony is bad, it’s just the local go-to single track and it’s nice to have a bit of variety.

The photo above shows one of the wonderful new maps at Bald Mountain State Recreation Area. The story I’d heard is that the old park manager was retiring and didn’t do much his last few years there, but when the new person took over he started making all manner of positive changes. I’m not sure how true this story is, but within the last year all of the (previously terrible and generally useless) intersection signs in the park have been removed and replaced with new, high quality maps. Kiosks like this also have been put in place, and now Bald Mountain has a nice feeling of being-cared-for to it.

Here’s two more photos from today, one of a fallen tree which someone has formed into a sketchy log pile (note the chainring marks) and the other which is impassible for a typical rider. Also, here is a GPS plot that Jon recorded of tonight’s ride. Note that heart rate is definitely not mine.

Tonight’s ride (per my bike computer) ended up at 23.66 miles, 2:03:14 moving time, for an average of 11.56 MPH, with a maximum of 26.56 MPH.