A little high-speed

Some of the end-February weather has simply been awesome. Shot a little high speed footage a few days ago.

Raw edit. 50sek. no sound. 210 fps.

Dune riding

Nothing extraordinary, just some dune riding a few rides ago, before the snow died.

Simple edit. 1m11sec. Please choose 480p. Music added for the fun of it.

Dune session part 2/2

More snow riding : )

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I complained a bit about all the poor leg armor there is out there, and decided to find a product that didnt suck. For the moment im testing the IXS Rinderknecht leg armor. The upper strap is annoying and scratchy, otherwise they prove to be comfortable on the lower section, and are surprisingy well ventilated. Protection seems good as well, even tho' ive yet to do a proper spill while wearing them.

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(Note the shoes, its not 5.10, its hiking shoes, they suck on platform pedals, but allow me to get up the hills, because 5.10 shoes have very poor grip on the white stuff..

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Playground 3.Click to enlarge this huge 3840x1080 panorama shot.

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It all goes a bit faster when you hover 30 cm above the ground.
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Dune session part 1/2

Been doing some more dune riding in the snow, happy to be out riding, instead of waiting for the snow to die.

Seeing this pic, I get reminded of how slack my HA actually is. 65 deg - in your face! (and it still climbs)

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The playground. This massive 5760x1080 panorama shot needs to be clicked on.

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Trail grooming is part of the game. The snow is allready giving a good amount of rolling resistance, so you might just as well help yourself and remove the most obvious branches.

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Playground 2, the amount of line possibilities is mind bugling.
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Drop in.

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The lost pictures of 2011

This is the place I insert just a little fraction of all the pics that never get published on this blog. It might not be the best pic, or the sharpest, but its a pic that has some sort of value or importance to me - be it nostalgic or, well, any reason you can think of. Enjoy : )

Taking a stroll in Whistler landed me this pic.

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One of my very last rides on my Specialized Enduro S-Works, before it had its catastrophic failure.

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Christian earlier last year, trying out a new line.
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We strapped my GoPro cam to Drea's back, and filmed a bit in Braunlage Bikepark. No one knew if the footage would be useable, so I guess we pretty much forgot about it, and just rode. Well turned out that it worked just fine. I extracted this little image from the vid, but forgot all about it.

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Shot this pic last January when the snow peaked.
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Shot in spring time, lost in translation.
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Review: Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro 2011-12 (UPDATE 2)

The Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro is an evolution of their former spike tire series. This version has more spikes, and has a more aggressive side-profile.

The first thing that impressed me was the weight (for the 2.1" version). Considering that the tire has more than 300 spikes, Schwalbe has done a great job of cutting down the weight. The tire is easily installed, but to my surprise there wasn't any tire rotation instruction - you can fit it any way you want. That makes me believe that Schwalbe has missed some optimizing opportunities. The tire itself does rotate a bit slow on the ground, but not so much that it should hinder a potential buyer. In fact, it actually rolls a bit faster than I expected. Its just not a high roller.

The tires grabs onto ice, loose over hardpack-snow, heavy and light snow pretty good. Way better than regular tires especially on the ice. But let me be claer; its not slip-proof - if you dont pay attention, you will end up on the ground. I noticed that the tire isnt optimal when used on newly fallen snow, the tire wants the ground the be hardpacked before showing its true performance, the more hardpacked, the better. The tire does however create better possibilities for faster speed and more control - and a safer ride.

If I was to improve on this tire, I would have made the side-spikes bigger and more aggressive, so that traction on the high speed turns could have been improved.

All in all I see this tire as a winter-tire only, for the xc riders, trail riders, and the AM riders as well. If you are out riding in the snow and ice, and want better traction, then look into this tire. It gets the job done.

(UPDATE)

So finally had a chance to test this tire on the rear as well. And my thoughts are very positive because of one particular thing: The Ice Spiker Pro tire sticks so well to slippery snow and even pure ice, that it allows otherwise inaccessible trails to be ridden, and that's an important point. Whether its climbing or descending, or even braking, you can expect a surprisingly good performance from the Ice Spiker Pro as a rear tire. Ive added an extra point to the overall score, because of performance and shear value.

(UPDATE2)
Added data for the 2.35" tire. Added data about overall snow performance.


Size:2.1"
Tested on: Front and Rear
Claimed weight: 695 gram
Actual weight: 657 gram (tire1)
Actual weight: 696 gram (tire2)

Size:2.35"
Tested on: Front
Claimed weight: 850 gram
Actual weight: 925 gram

Score: 5/6

The 2.35" up front, and 2.1" in the rear. Great combo. Best for hardpacked snow, or ice.

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It might give you a good deal of rolling resistance, but it will keep you on the trail, instead of home.
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It was my impression that Schwalbe was pretty accurate when giving info about their weight. This time however they are a massive 75grams from their claimed weight on the 2.35" version of the Ice Spiker Pro. Perhaps they should re-calibrate their scale.
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White dunes part 2/2

Part 2 of our dune ride. Enjoy the pics.

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I had a few spills this day - my front wheel washed out several times, I was running way too much pressure up front, and that didnt allow the tire to adapt to the snow. Choosing the wrong lines was also a factor : )

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Snow sucks up the impact, rendering the crashes somewhat impotent. There you go, I used the word impotent on my blog, man am I going to disappoint some poor search-engine users.

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Getting stability at high speeds was a challenge because of the newly fallen snow. Had the snow been hard-packed, it would have been a different story.

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White dunes part 1/2

I have been eye balling this remote and secluded spot for an entire year. Its a place near the sea that has hundreds dunes, some of them reaching as high as 100 feet. The problems was however that the sand on the dunes was a bit too soft. Well say hello to Mr. Frost - the cold temperatures made the sand stiffen up, and now its all rideable. We packet our gear, grabbed our bikes, and gave it a go.

It gives me great joy to spin my bike a place I haven't before, to be honest, Im just happy to be out riding considering the amount of snow we got recently.

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Christian on his Spitfire.

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Last man down eats the yellow snow

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Spotting the lines is half the fun

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Everytime I visit this place, I stumble upon deers, this time was no different.

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Open space allows a wide range of line choices, I think we just scratched the surface.

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Stay tuned for part 2.