After last weekends hectic organization of Winnipeg's inaugural Ice Bike Event this weekend was spent in more leisurely pursuits.

On this Saturday the whole family rose late. After breakfast Josh and I headed off for a ride up the Red River. There was a strong South wind so we ended up cutting back to the road for the into the windward leg. When cut through my brother in laws yard to get back on the river.

To cut back to the road we headed over a field… surrounded by a ditch - bike parking made easy ;-)

We had had some strange weather for the time of year. The previous Monday we had freezing rain. For those that have not had the pleasure of this first hand it is a real charmer. Basically after it has been particularly cold the air warms up enough for rain to fall which freezes on contact with everything it touches. Cars, trees, power lines, and the road all end up looking like they are coated in a clear sugar glaze. The entertainment begins when you try and move around on this stuff... all the world becomes a skating rink. School gets cancelled. The highways are categorized "travel not recommended" which is basically the last step before they shut them down. Those that do venture out in a vehicle have a good chance of ending up in the ditch or an accident. Fortunately the day was a warm one with the temperature getting +5C, almost a record for February and this cleared the worst of it off the roads and foot paths/side walks.

When you combine the fact that we have had little snow in the last couple of months the river becomes a haven for ice biking ;-). The surface conditions vary from very slippery ice to ice covered by a thin layer of crusty snow. Perfect for ice biking.

With the right amount of snow the traction is ideal for practicing tricks and honing ones bike handling skills.

This was an interesting section of ice. It was very slippery and had a gentle slope at the bank where the river level has dropped since the ice formed. Here Josh demonstrated to me ice biking skills I can only dream about. He would get up a head of speed and head for the bank, execute a turn and return all the time keeping his effective center of gravity over the rubber in contact with the ice. To complicate matters add in a 40kph wind coming from the south. Soon after this photograph was taken Josh was being visibly blown along the ice by the wind while he was half on the bike as you see him here.

For my part I was please to be able to maintain my balance just for riding. This picture does not show it clearly but there is loose snow being blown over the ice which creates quite an eirie effect in this friction challenged environment. With the winds we cruising comfortably at about 30Kph.

In most places the ice was at least a couple of feet thick. As we were riding we heard the distant cracking of the ice a number of times. It is a bit like thunder originating from beneath you feet. Very very errie! Riding under the bridge that leads into Saint Adolphe you could see that the cracks in the clear black ice only ran about 200mm before they hit water, an indication of just how warm the weather has been this winter. A little to the left of this picture the cracking sounds were in response to our passage so we elected to head back to the shore line.

This is a sign welcoming snow mobilers to Saint Adolphe. With the conditions as they were we were the only people on the river.

(Note that my bike is not currently spec. I have both my spare wheels on and the front disk brake is in the process of being replaced under warranty. Hopefully I will have everything back and be ready for action by the time the summer racing season starts. -- Saint Adolphe is to host its first mountain bike race this season which I am organizing.)

After playing on the river we headed back up to the park land surrounding Saint Adolphe. They have flooded a section to create a skating rink. This proved and ideal location for practicing the perfect 360.

The other favorite winter activity is snowboarding. Alas what little snow there was this year has all but gone. Here Josh is getting some air from a jump he built for snow boarding. The landing was a little icy and the hook on the jump was not ideal for biking.

This was truly an utopian day of Ice Biking. Rarely are conditions as good as this!