pugsley worlds and random rides

easy excuse but seriously have just been way too busy riding and working to get anything up on here for a couple of weeks. gonna dump some pictures with a few words. most importantly was the pugsley world championships. hit the link for some good pictures of that. not a huge field but a ton of fun. conditions were equally fast and sketchy. if you don't know this about winter riding...ice is FAST as long as you're vertical. i rode with the lead group long enough to make me happy then failed to keep it vertical. two spills in about ten yards trying to cross a farm field covered in ice with no real line left me unable to get my legs back under me and i tiptoed the rest of the way across. by the time i got to the other side the top 3 (hollywood, trevor, charlie tri) had put a gap between us. ezra was behind me after dumping his modified big dummy/pugsley shortly before i did. a little over 10 miles of icy/powdery snowmobile trails brought us to the prairie farmer trail which is a lot like triple d. i buried myself trying to catch back up to the top 3. as i did ezra slowly caught me. we hit the checkpoint in ridgeway and they were still well within eyesight and we hopped back on the prairie farmer. no snowmobiles here, just iced-over drifts undulating like a pump track from hell for like 3 more miles. id start to gain on what was now the top 4, only to lay it down on an ice patch again. this happened a couple of times before we inevitably hit the gravel. id say i was within 200-400 yards when i saw the four of them turn off and i knew it was over. 1 man alone (presumably weaker to begin with) is not going to catch 4 men pacelining on gravels. i'm thrilled with how the body felt and how close i was to hanging on. i'm not sure if i could have held the pace and stayed in line on the gravels but i would have liked the opportunity. ultimately my fault for failing to ride cleanly when others did. finished 5th as trevor beat out the rest near the end for the $500. awesome race, great course, stupid fast conditions/finishing times. ended at the bar for high life tallboys and ensuing shenanigans including failed teeter totter attempts, king of the hill, derbies and i don't really remember what else. resounding success for sure.
prior to the race i've gotten some solid rides in, although everyday seems to be a different story. crazy/scary fog, icy gravels, thawing nasty sloppy gravels, snowmobile trails, county blacktops, and best of all a few days of actual mountain bike trails. this crusty ice allowed ogara and i to take a look around and found one hell of a good time. rollercoaster, rocky road, little big horn, both sets of pines, north 40...all in various states of rideability and worth the trip. spent a couple days riding up there and probably heading back up again today. photo dump in no particular order cause i can't remember now what days i've ridden what. reminder std is coming up end of march...more info soon.

little big horn

ogara thinking the log ride seems appropriate covered in snow and ice

could be worse i guess

started fog ride on blacktops, scared the shit out of myself, opted for gravel

sloppy gravels

van peenen

little big horn

picking a good line was important

sloppier gravels

gravel weapon

alternative gravel weapon when gravels thaw