Winter Solstice Quest: 200km before dark
Two-hundred kilometer rides every month through winter; doable?
I had no way of knowing, and really, making a plan to ride 200km each month through winter would be dumb. Needless.
All I actually needed was an objective, something to look forward to through the dreary days of November, as daylight hours diminished rapidly, and the stark reality settled in: winter was coming. And not just any winter; COVID-winter.
Why?
I’d been stringing together rides over 200km long consistently since late spring 2020, which ramped up into my late summer push beyond 300km rides (another story, another piece to come). In November I was gifted numerous mild days to work with for long rides, and I had a good sense of what I could fit into a day of limited sunlight. Rather than ‘just ride 200km in December,’ I thought it’d be fun and more interesting to target winter solstice - the day with the fewest hours of sunlight each year - for a 200km ride. This would be the natural complement to my ‘big thing’ for 2021, 500k in a day: Ottawa - Quebec City. I plan to do this ride on June 19, the longest day of the year (though technically the day before summer solstice). Essentially, the idea was that I’d ride as far as possible - without going into suffering-mode - on both the shortest and longest days of the year. Different calendar years, sure, but both within the pandemic phase. And I want to stress the importance of the ‘without going into suffering-mode’ orientation. I don’t want to take a big detour here, so will constrain my comments on the topic. In essence, I’m alluding to a contrast between approaching the 200km solstice ride as ‘good-in-itself’ and ‘good for something else.’ Meaning, the ride was explicitly about enjoying my time on the bike, not ‘training for something else, later.’ I wanted to appreciate what I was doing as I was doing it, to be grateful with the ability to ride 200km in December, let alone the shortest day of the year. In order to realize this objective, I would need a number of elements to come together, and for that to occur, I’d need some luck.
When?
While I’m experienced with winter cycling, I’d never taken on 200km in winter before. Pre-pandemic, most of my ‘proper winter’ rides fell into the 3-hour range, especially those that involved riding on the dirt roads north of Ottawa, which involved driving to Wakefield as the launch-point. In preparing for the solstice ride, I worked on dialing in my kit, routing options, and bike set-up. I knew I’d need to have fairly decent weather to pull it off, and that I could float the date between two days and still consider it ‘legit.’ I was going to be off work for Christmas on December 21, so I could either do the ride then, or ride a day in either direction if weather was bad. The thing is, daylight hours were actually the same on the 20th as the 21st, and the 22nd was actually one minute shorter.
I did a 155km ‘recon’ ride on Sunday, and confirmed my plan for Monday the 21st, which was forecasted to be mild and precipitation-free. I used an app called Sunrise & Set to inform my plans, and it told me I’d have 8h 43m total daylight for the day, with dawn at 07:05, and dusk at 16:57. Since I do daily walks that see me depart home before 07:00, I tend to have a good sense of when it’ll be light out on a clear day, versus a cloudy one. In November we saw a majority of mornings break with high humidity and overcast conditions; clear sunrises were uncommon. If it was to be overcast, it wouldn’t be light enough to feel safe riding until around 07:30. If it were to clear up through the day, I’d have until about 16:40, the midpoint between sunset and dusk, to be riding while it was ‘still light out.’ My objective was to manage my time such that I’d be home around 16:00.
Where?
Leading into December, I undertook many rides on roads north of Ottawa that I’d rarely or never ridden. This was sort of bizarre - to be exploring through fall - but I loved it. As I developed my plan for the Solstice Quest, I paid careful attention to how unpaved roads reacted to the vagaries of the weather.
How?
Fenders and Tires
Once upon a time, when we used to drive to Wakefield for snirt rides around 70km long, fenders were neither required nor desirable. The issue with fenders is that the tires will often pick up snow, almost irrespective of how dry or wet it is, and accrete that snow into the fender and/or cause the snow to spray all over the bike as it hits fender struts. In the absence of fenders, the bike will often stay very clean, as the tires pass snow through the forks and frame unimpeded. So they are neither required, nor desired when riding fairly ‘dry’ snow on dirt roads. The problem comes when having to link paved and salted roads with unpaved and unsalted roads. On paved roads fenders will generally be necessary to control spray onto the bike and body, which will cause premature chilling and bike function issues. If one wants to ride pavement to get to dirt roads covered in snow (snirt), one must run fenders that offer AMPLE clearance for snow to pass through. Otherwise it’s a shit-show, and the ride plan might go to pot.
In the past, my cyclocross bikes didn’t offer ample clearance to run 33-35mm tires with fenders. This wasn’t really an issue, however, as it was easy enough to decouple paved from unpaved winter riding. This year, given pandemic realities and my desire to put a big loop together, I needed to make fenders work. Fortunately, my carbon Brodie Romax had both the clearance and fittings required to make it work. I purchased a pair of SKS fenders from a local shop, mounted them without having to resort to epic modifications, and got to testing.
For tires, I’ve always liked 33-35mm options with treads that offer many edges for grip on snow and ice. Studded tires are great, but overkill for what I was doing. Instead, I generally really like cyclocross ‘file treads,’ and Clement’s LAS has served well, for example. Challenge makes tires that fit the bill well too, the objective being to land on an option that will offer sufficient wear-resistance while also offering enough grip on packed snow, and the odd bit of ice. I wound up wearing out (and puncturing badly) my rear LAS, so have since swapped to Panaracer’s Gravel King SK in 35mm, which is working great. You can drill into 3-season tire details here.
Drivetrain
Mixing wet roads and snow-covered roads will tend to present a challenge for the drivetrain over a day of riding. Through 2020 I was extremely impressed with the performance of Absolute Black’s GraphenLube, which does not run ‘tacky,’ this means it doesn’t collect grit. Preceding my solstice 200 ride, the GraphenLube had been working really well, so I was confident it would do the trick for the long day out. I packed my small bottle in my handlebar bag, as I do for all long rides, just in case I had to re-apply. The beauty of this stuff is that it doesn’t really get dirtier as it wears out of the chain, so applying more doesn’t create grinding paste the way most wet-lubes would.
No special gearing would be required, as my speed wouldn’t really be outside the normal range.
Controls
For a long day in winter, which is really anything beyond 3 hours, in my mind, the bike’s controls become particularly important in terms of heat management. After 3 hours, moisture will tend to have accumulated enough in one’s gloves to start to conduct heat from the hands at an increased rate. When riding aluminum bars with aluminum brake levers, persistent contact equates to persistent heat loss. This is what led me to experiment with Easton’s carbon bars, and why I value carbon brake levers, which are only marginally lighter than alloy ones. I ran Easton’s EC70 Aero bars with SRAM Force levers. I can tell you with certainty that both make a difference, and having warm hands can be the difference between enjoying a ride, at best, and crashing, at worst.
Navigation
I didn’t really want to do some sort of route that would feel repetitive or played out. Having done some exploration north-west of Wakefield through the fall, I had a few roads in mind I wanted to work in that would allow my to complete a large loop. My strategy was to use fast roads early in the ride, bag a bunch of distance, then tune my pace as required to pull off the loop within daylight. I used my Garmin 520+ to handle routing, which is decent in this regard, but suffers from limited battery life, especially in the cold. I’ve adapted to this limitation by carrying an Otterbox Powerbank battery, which I use to charge my Garmin and phone during long days. Regrettably, my Easton integrated computer mount precludes me from charging while the computer is mounted, unless I rotate it 180 degrees around. So, this is what I do, timing charging with periods of time I don’t have to navigate. In theory!
Safety
I couldn’t be more thankful than I am to have a Garmin Varia. tail-light. The Varia is radar-enabled, and bright enough to be seen for a looong way even in bright daylight. The Varia communicates with my 520+, and alerts me as cars approach from behind. This is invaluable, as it allows my to ride wherever I need to on the road, based on surface conditions, while no cars are approaching. As they do, I can do what I need to to make space in safely. When the road surface is loud - as is true on wet pavement, dirt and gravel roads - I don’t have to rely on compromised hearing to alert me of cars. The Varia is indispensable, and I use it every single time I go out for a road ride. The only downside with my set-up at the moment is that the Varia draws down the batter of the 520+, which is part of the reason I need an extra battery with me. It’s not a big deal, but I do hope Garmin develops a dynamo-compatible Varia down the road for those who wish to use it with a more appropriate endurance set-up. I run a basic safety light up front, in a relatively bright flashing pattern, whenever it’s anything but sunny out.
Cargo
I’ve been happily using Road Runner’s Burrito Supreme handlebar bag for a couple years, now. I packed extra gloves and neck-tube, my tools and bits and bobs (patches, tire-plugs, master-link, etc.), battery, cables, and some snacks into the bag, with my light mounted attached to it. I like to keep my two spare inner tubes, which are relatively heavy, strapped to my frame near the bottom bracket. This keeps their weight low, and frees up space in my bag. I try to keep weight off my seat as much as I can, as it makes the bike feel sluggish while out of the saddle. Feel good, ride good ;)
Kit
Fortunately, the weather forecast for solstice made dressing fairly simple, as conditions would closely replicate those I’d ridden in the previous day, hovering just above freezing, with limited sun. Here’s how my kit broke down:
Brynje fishnet polypro base-layer
Castelli Polare 2 tights (review here)
Castelli Alpha RoS 2 jacket (review here)
Mad Alchemy neck thingy
Giro ambient cap
Wigwam ski socks
Lake MX145 boots (review here)
Giro Ambient shoe-covers
No Drama
Leaving home around 07:30, with many podcasts cued up and my Jaybird Vista earbuds charged, I was in a good state of mind for a full day on the bike without stress around completing the loop. In the weeks leading into the ride, I was primarily concerned that it would be too cold to start as early as I wanted to. If I had to roll out at 10 I’d REALLY have to crush myself to pull off the 200k within anything resembling ‘daylight hours.’ As I made my way through the city I was confident that the only significant issue I was likely to face would be a mechanical, like a puncture, and I was prepared for a broad range of issues. If I got into real trouble, Iain Radford had told me to call him, and he’d bail me out. I can’t tell you how comforting that was to know; thanks Iain!
I made good time through the first few hours of the day, taking the speed I could on paved roads, heading west. A stop in Ladysmith was timely; snacks and liquids. The fellow running the store was pleasant to chat with, keen to hear where I’d come from and where I was headed.
The forecast was nearly accurate, but I wound up getting less sun than expected, which wasn’t the best for vibes. However, it was probably a blessing, as the dirt roads remained firmer than they would have had the sun come out to play more. I was dressed a little more warmly than required, so I kept the inner Alpha layer of my jacket open most of the day, which was comfortable. When I retained moisture I opened up the front, closed down the inner, and vented for a while, which worked well. I was always comfortable. My feet were a little cool off and on, and my shoe-covers were wet off and on, while my hands were comfortable all day without needing to change gloves. I could also have been totally happy with the Elemento jacket for the day, as there was no precipitation, but the Alpha RoS is the safer bet if there’s doubt.
Proper fenders on the bike made a huge difference over wet pavement, in contrast to the previous day's ride without. With almost an inch of clearance around my tires, my fenders had zero issues with the snow on the dirt roads. This was impossible to achieve before on CX bikes with limited clearance. The ride would have been rather uncomfortable if I’d been without fenders.
As I’ve written elsewhere, podcasts were constant companions throughout the day. A few that stand out for the long rides are those by Rich Roll, Andrew Huberman, Orla Chennaoui, Alec Baldwin, Jordan Harbinger, Mitch Docker (Life in Peloton), and Matt Stephens.
I arrived home before 16:00, easily within the window I’d set for myself, which felt good. I didn’t have to pile on the watts to get home before dark, but paced the day exactly as I needed to, with some built-in buffer for an issue or two. Ultimately, it was a drama-free day, which never feels ‘epic,’ but is the result of preparation combining with luck. The weather cooperated as well as I could have hoped, and allowed me to execute my plan without getting bogged down on slow surfaces, or having to deal with rain.
This ride was a challenge, a ‘goal’, but not really a stretch. More than anything, it was something to look forward to, to enjoy, to build confidence toward other challenges to come. I figured, ‘If I can do 200k on the shortest day of the year, maybe I can do 500k on the the longest day of the year.’ For the 500k mission, I’ve decided I need to be able to cover 200k so ‘easily’ that I feel my ride ‘starts’ at kilometre 201. If I can remind myself that I did 200k in December, and it wasn’t a big deal, I’ll set myself up to take on 500k in a day from a position of mental strength, balance, and calm.
In case you’re wondering whether I intend to attempt this ride again, to make it an annual ‘event’ on winter solstice, the answer is simple: YES. Absolutely. I loved it, and would he delighted to share the experience with others in 2021.
