Pugsley to the Rescue!

Wow, it has been over four months since I have written in my blog! Where did our "pseudo summer go?" We are "smack dab" into the fall season with winter closing in on our heels! If you are like most midwesterners, you are currently thinking..."oh crap, here we go again, winter will be here soon!" I don't know about you, but, after a winter such as last year, with record snowfalls and cold, I am not looking forward to it per se and I consider myself to be pretty hardy! Since I choose to live here year round, I have to find something which captures my interest in the physical realm during the long, ardous winter months. I already have several options in my fitness routine, such as P90X (maintenance), snow shoeing, cross country skiing, etc., however, my first love is mountain biking. In order to continue mountain biking throughout the winter, my husband and I decided to invest in winter bikes. We were able to ride our single speed mountain bikes some of the time last winter, but, due to the deep snow and lots of it, it became progressively more difficult to do so on a consistent basis, so, we decided to take the $800.00 credit my husband received from One on One bike in downtown Minneapolis for his cracked mountain bike frame from Bianchi Bikes, and apply that to our purchase of two Surly Pugsley winter bikes. The "Pug" as it is endearingly called by winter biking afficianados, has Large Marge rims with four inch wide Larry tires slapped on for good measure! For those of you wondering...yes, Surly has a sense of humor, with names fashioned after the popular, long running show.."The Simpsons". The Larry tires can be filled with more air pressure enabling the rider to ride on dirt and sand, as I have been doing recently, as well as lowered to around 5 PSI so the rider can ride on deep snow. I have been told that the winter riding experience on a Pug is akin to Jesus walking on water...lol! Seriously, the low air pressure causes the Larry's to spread out and float on the snow pack, much like the experience that snow shoes provide. There have also been accomodations made to the frame which I won't get into in this short article, as it gets a bit technical.
Last winter when we were winter riding in our favorite haunt...Theordore Wirth Park, it looked like the Blair Witch Project in the woods, as there was a long line of Pugs, I call a pack of Pug riders, a "Pod of Pugs"...with helmet lights flashing through the trees! I am sure that passerbys thought that  a UFO had landed in the woods! The popularity of mountain biking has increased tenfold in the decade plus since I have ridden and this includes winter riding, which is why I am grateful that innovative companies such as Surly continue to come out with bikes such as the Pug for every terrain situation! My husband and I ride in temperatures as low as zero, providing there is low wind chill. While I won't go so far as to say I LOVE WINTER...I will say that I have made peace with it and can co-exist with it mainly due to the fact that I have tools with which to partake in it and to enjoy it.