After attending an early-morning geocaching event, I arrived home wide awake at 6:45am, so I hit the PVSP trails for a mountain bike ride. Temperatures were in the upper teens to low 20s, but there wasn’t much wind. I started out on Belmont Trail and rode Morning Choice, Old Track Loop, Nacho, Garrett’s Pass, and Ridge Trail + CJS Extension on the Howard County side, plus Soapstone to Starstruck via Avalon Mill Race trail in Baltimore County. I saw 6 other hardy riders, 3 of whom were solo like me, and 3 in a group. As I was heading home in the eastbound direction on the Mill Race Trail, my rear tire went flat. Not sure what I hit, as I haven’t pulled it off and inspected it yet. But, I’m happy it didn’t happen earlier in the ride.

For the ride, I wore a winter cycling jersey over a standard long-sleeve jersey over a 32° Heat synthetic long sleeve base layer shirt, long cycling pants, wool socks, Altra waterproof shoes with warming fleece insoles, Gore Bike Wear gloves, Barr Mitts, and medium-weight balaclava. My face was a little bit cold at the start of the ride, but I was perfectly comfortable once I got into the woods. As expected, the frozen trails were fantastic, and I rode through a few patches of frozen mud. Towards the end of the ride, some of the sunnier portions of trail were starting to thaw and get muddy.

My winter biking gloves have lasted a long time. They are at least 10 years old, and showing their age, but I think they’ve got at least one winter left in them. One thing working in their favor is that I don’t wear them as often as I used to, because I usually can get away with lighter gloves with the Bar Mitts. The exceptions are days like today, when the temperatures are in the teens or below. They are well-made gloves, but I’ve never been crazy about the liners, as they are very difficult to put on when they are damp. That basically means that I can’t take them off during a ride unless I am prepared to either change into different gloves, or spend a lot of time fussing to get them back on. In all the time I’ve had them, though, that hasn’t been enough to deter me from wearing them for cold rides.