Whenever Little Canada between One Stop and Lone Birch looks like the above cover pic, you know things just ain’t clicking in town.
I had only ridden across the parking lot at the compound this season, not even enough to register 0.1 mile on the odometer. Totally unacceptable for me and things had to change…QUICKLY!
So I gathered all of my paperwork and stickers to place on the sled so I can take her on a shakedown ride, for battle testing purposes only.
And just like that, the ol’ 4-TEC was ready to rock!
I took a swirl around the Indian Lake Town loop and it was pretty much as I expected: ride-able but rough with some mud/water spots. It was good enough to scratch the itch, but nothing I would want to do for endless miles, or even again until we get more snow. I certainly wouldn’t want to endure S84 to make it to the Newcomb Trail or C8 to make it out to Cedar River Headquarters. I didn’t do the Sabael trail, but I’m certain that would be a muddy quagmire thru the swamps.
Here was a particularly gamey spot at the Bear Trap Swamp:
The star of this ride was Adirondack Lake, where I put on the majority of today’s miles ripping across the lake back and forth. Even found some relatively untouched stuff in the back:
There were some open water spots and thin ice near the small rock islands, but I stayed away from those. There were plenty of tracks on the main drag.
Maybe I was feeling a hair reckless and needed to blow off some steam. But the reward was worth the risk and I was feeling the electricity after some rips across. Certainly better than the best day that summer could ever offer me:
Stopped for lunch at the Indian Lake Restaurant, where I continued to risk my health and safety. Usually, I get the entree with the best nutritional profile, which I believe is the rib-eye steak with sides of sweet potato fries and collard greens.
But today, I got down and dirty with the Abanakee Burger. Sooooo good, but soooo bad for me! And messy too…there is a reason that it’s served in a basket:
Then I ran down to Adirondack Lake for several more rips before calling it a day with my first 20+ miles of the season.
Bottom line for the weekend
I had low expectations for this ride and it certainly lived down to them. The mild weather sucked. But at least it knocked the ice and snow off the trees and it looks like the Town crews have been out there cutting away the fallen trees from the main arteries.
We’ll get another top-coat of white paint Saturday into Saturday night to freshen up things, but it’s nowhere near enough to put us where we should be.
If you have a camp or second house up here and just want to horse around a bit in town, have at it. Otherwise, just truck it and ride directly into Moose River Plains from the Brown Farm near the end of Cedar River Road. Or you can hit Perkins Clearing from the south end parking lot, but the riding will be limited in there with the logging going on at the north end.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Weather Outlook
Looks like we’re going to hop on the snow train next week. A weather system will roll through on Monday with a fresh deposit of snow.
Then we got this possible big fish for Tuesday night into Wednesday:
But, after that storm lifts away, we very quickly get knocked into a lousy pattern that can’t keep it cold here:
Let me count the ways this stinks:
1. Polar Vortex (PV) over Davis Strait – which is NAO+ all the way!
2. Massive High between Alaska and Hawaii that….
3. …keeps the mean trough over the western United States. (PNA-)
The problem isn’t a lack of cold air over North America. It’s the prevailing pattern that tends to funnel that cold into the western United States.
That Pacific high has been causing problems for us all winter to this point and needs to get dislodged towards western North America. Unfortunately, that may not happen in earnest until well into the second half of January:
I certainly wouldn’t bet the farm on much good stuff happening after this week. But just because it can blowtorch doesn’t mean it will do so all the time. There is almost certain to be massive cold gradually spreading across Canada from the west as the month presses on. That could sink into the northern tier of the United States like molasses a time or two and coincide with a well-enough placed storm.
Until further notice, when we get it, HIT IT! Certainly don’t wait for perfect or you’ll join the whiners who have already decided that they won’t be riding until February…
One more thing
Written comments for Rail to trail (Remsen to Lake Placid Travel Corridor UMP) are due by the end of January 8, 2020 to:
John Schmid, Natural Resources Planner
NYS DEC
626 Broadway, 5th floor
Albany, NY 12233-4254
Email: AdirondackPark@dec.ny.gov
More details on the plan can be found at: https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/62816.html
Tell them you want the rails ripped out from Lake Placid all the way down to Big Moose and replace it with trail that can be used all year by everyone who desires to. Simple as that!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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