Biking West of the Little Susitna

We finally made our way to the cabin.  Our house project and other obligations have kept us away from there the past few weeks.  It always feels like such a hassle to pack up at the departure point, but once we arrive, we wonder why we debated even coming because it all ends up coming together pretty easy once the decision is made to go ahead and go for the weekend.  But so is true with most things in life: making the decision is often more difficult than executing it. 

When we arrived, we found that the Southcentral January warming trend did melt some snow, but it didn't do away with most of it like it did at our house. About a 4" hard pan layer of icy snow was on top of about 8" of normal snow with about 3" of fresh fluffy snow on top.  I proceeded to remove that from the cabin roof almost immediately upon our arrival.  Our door jam wasn't liking the heavy load and it was a reminder that we need to not let things go so long in the future.  I was happy to have only 256 sq. feet of snow to remove.  The fun part was being able to bike for two days in a row on new trails.  On Saturday evening we rode on a 10 mile loop on some trails near our cabin.  I had no idea Bryant had planned otherwise I'd have held off on the snow shoveling, but half-way through the ride when the sun was setting and I realized where we were going, I knew we weren't going to be a short sunset cruise to loosen the legs up.  I went into conservation mode by walking the hard hills and pushing on the icy difficult sections.  One thing we reminded ourselves at the end of this short ride was that 10 miles on a fat bike differs based on the various conditions of the trail.  Assuming one is fortunate enough to have a packed trail to ride upon.

On Sunday, we rode bikes to Flat Horn Lake.  Usually this particular trail is one of the best from our cabin at least from the snowmachine perspective, so we were curious to find out how we'd view it from the bike.  I knew I wanted to get to "the sign."  Anyone who has explored west of Little Susitna River in the winter knows what sign I'm talking about.  All these trails in this area are swamps in the summer, unless one has an airplane to be dropped off at a particular destination.  Traveling and exploring by snowmachine, dogsled, bike, ski, or foot are the only options.  While there are numerous trails to get to the Big Susitna River, the famous 1000 mile Iditarod Sled Dog trail is the only trail that leads beyond that point to arrive in Nome.  The Iditarod Trail Invitational happened to start on Sunday from Knik Lake so we expected to cross paths on the trail with some bikers, skiers, and runners making their way to McGrath or Nome for this multi-day/week/month long winter race for people who are much more hard core and focused than I will ever be.  I later found out that the race didn't start until later in the afternoon and for once, we were on an earlier schedule so we didn't see them.  It turned out to be a mostly good trail out to Flat Horn Lake, and twenty degree temperatures.  There was one section that was a little icy, but I would say that the only thing missing was a thermos for a cup of coffee or cocoa while we were having a lunch break on the lake. Bryant took a short video from "the sign."
http://youtu.be/G0-AyyYmOcg

       

And he's also has the STRAVA app that gives great information about our rides. 

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