If you want to ride during the winter in the midwest you’re going to end up riding in the snow. With that in mind Tony, Buck and I headed down to Red Wing to ride after the first real snowfall of the year. Buck had just bought a new camera and he was itching to try it out.

As we pushed up the hill I thought, “I’m not wearing enough clothes.” My hands were already numb and my 5-10 shoes which normally grip the pedals so well were doing their best impression of skis as I struggled to find a foothold. We dropped in and as I fought to keep the bike on line in the first corner I wondered if this was going to be any fun. In the second turn I stuck out a leg, felt the bike drift to the outside of turn until the tires hooked up and I rocketed out of the corner and I knew it was going to be a good day.

The best part of the trail was the middle section. A sharp left hand turn leads to a straight-away which crosses the XC trail which leads to a long sweeping left turn into a small jump over a partially fallen tree and then into a right-left chicane. I was a little apprehensive about hitting the over-the-tree jump. Normally it’s not a problem but you want to carry some speed into it and the bike was a little squirrley at speed through the snow. Tony hit it first. He just barely brushed the snow of the tree with his rear wheel and blew a foot off the pedal on the landing, but he kept it together. I hit the jump the first time, got in the air, cleared the tree and thought, “Hey this isn’t too bad”. Then my wheels touched down. The two inches of snow on top of three inches of leaves didn’t provide enough grip for my frozen maxxis 3Cs. The bike went left and I went right , sliding on my back into the trees. I brushed myself on and did again, this time with more successful results.

We sessioned the section for a while and Tony executed a picture perfect scandinavian flick into the chicane. The rear wheel breaks free pointing in the wrong direction and then swings the other direction setting the rider and bike up perfectly to rail the turn. It was beautiful! Tony was killing that corner all day, easily riding it as cleanly and quickly as I have seen it ridden in more optimal conditions.

Red Wing in the snow from Buck on Vimeo.

Got your own story of riding in the snow to share? We’d love to hear it along with any other comments