It hit -47 F at my house last night, and even lower in some low spots.  That is just bone-chilling frightful.

Riding is damn hard work.

My 7 hour trail ride last Saturday was only -25F, for a high, and -30 for a low.  I had to let a lot of air out of my 2.55 Weirwolf LT fatboys for traction and float on the dogsled and snow machine trail, probably down to 12-15 psi, or as the Euro dogs say, ‘one atmosphere’.  We see many tires shred at very low temperatures and tire pressures, but the WTB have a very supple, flexible and strong sidewall.  Still, soft tires makes for tough pedaling.  The good news is that the wind chill is very low at these speeds, so frostbite is not so much of a problem.

I ended up riding for several miles on top of, or next to the Alaska Oil Pipeline.  Some of it is buried where the permafrost is not prevalent.  All in all, the 7 hour ride, and the 4 hour ride the next day at -30 F, builds confidence that my bike, tires, and clothing will work during my 1,000 mile Iditarod Trail race in 2 1/2 weeks.  As far as winter and ground hog day goes, I am pretty sure we have 6 weeks more of winter!  Or, as many here say about Fairbanks cold, ’9 months of winter and 3 months of tough sledding’.  Feel free to send warm thoughts.