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Nice Mendip ride today with a good friend. A couple of hours around Burrington Combe, Rowberrow and up to Beacon Batch. The snow was a couple of inches thick up top and formed a crunchy top layer over the stickiness below. All of the trees and foliage on the ridge were coated in ice and made for a tinkling soundtrack as the wind blew over. The going was variable but overall I was impressed with the new Spesh Eskar2 tyres. Running them tubeless at about 25psi, they coped admirably with the variety of snow/mud/slush/ice.
Pretty much avoided the tracks through the trees down to the bottom at Rowberrow. Actually, after trying one route, we decided to stick to the less steep stuff! It was great to be out in the fresh air, and for once my feet and hands stayed warm and dry. 🙂
Riding up to Beacon Batch over the snow had it's interesting moments as, without warning, the front wheel would randomly break through the frozen surface and plunge (almost) axle-deep into the mire.
All good fun.
Didn't have fun up there myself on sunday. After Saturdays rain there was lots of frozen mud ruts that kept catching me out - one at high speed which resulted in a big ouch moment.
Hoping to get out there this weekend but I will plan the route this time and avoid some of the more downwards pointing stuff as it's just not fun when the trails are cut up and frozen. Best routes are the ones under tree cover - nice and crisp but none of the big chunks of ice.