How to ride a WR in Alaska in December

Life has been dull since I stopped riding at the end of the summer... and now... Well, I've brought the WR back to life for all year riding in AK.

Step 1 - Buy 1,000 Studs and a fresh motocross front...


Step 2 - Draw some blood to complete the product - Roughly 890 Studs later, 150 in the front...


Step 3 - Prosper



Alright there's the prep from last weekend. Now for a moment in time from today's ride, the 3rd & 4th time I've taken this mama jamma out...

I live around Big Lake, AK. Did 20 miles in the morning exploring and revisiting then another 25 miles latter in the afternoon.

The trails that 'gave me trouble' in the summer with the swamp and tundra... no problemo in the winter cruise 30mph right across the frozen mud and tundra without a second though compared to - uhmm... this is some technical stuff I should plan my route across this and watch out for that 4 foot deep mud hole in front of me...













I studded the tires with no expectation besides - Well, let's see how it'll do... I actually feel damned comfortable cruising down the backroads (~30-40mph) I've probably hit 45+ not quite sure since I've got a 48 tooth rear and haven't fixed the speedo.  It's more a feeling of - hmmm... how hard do I want to hit the ground if I go down... I wanna find a Trooper and ask him if they could do anything if I'm cruising around insured on the roads- cause you know it's street legal - maybe not smart but - Hey, seems legit to me I ride all summer on the roads.... lol

Riding on the trails - It can be a handful but 85% it does extremely well. You know how rutts & odd angles for a motorcycle handles when its wet out - you never know when you'll come across those. The rutts that a snowmachine's track/skis leave can be hazardous. On one section today after the people riding sleds finally got out of bed then tracked up the trail - I was cruising then could not keep the bike straight. It was like the front/rear were in different rutts going sideways, never ate it but very troublesome shooting back and forth trying to stay on the trail.

Riding on the ice road on Big Lake - snzit, just like the road - I can HAUL down that... just have to watch for the 90 degree turns in the road with the snow burms lining the road. But riding off the ice road on the lake, you got old tracks going everywhere - basically a crosshatch pattern...  had to be careful dealing with those. Nonetheless if you live in an area with snow that allows some freedom to do what you want go get some studs...

The biggest problem I've encountered has been my goggles fogging up. Summertime I ride with an Icon Variant setup like ++AB's with the gopro... rode today without the visor with Motocross single lens goggles... I think I'll be better off tomorrow with my MX helmet and the snowmachine dual lens goggles I just picked up - The only reason I didn't ride the entire day (the few hours the suns out) was cause my goggles were fogging... I rode about 4 hours today - tomorrow there is 5.5 hours of sun light - I will be out ALL fricken day living it up...

   

THAT IS AWESOME !!!!!!!!!

So very cool.

What temperature is it generally during the daylight hours?   

How are you keeping yourself from freezing?

  

And as I said before.....        

Impressive.

Where did you purchase your studs?

Heh Thanks guys, I think it was 10-15 degrees when I was riding this weekend... The first few rides the only difference in my gear compared to summer was adding fleece pants. So Normal pants, steel toe boots, knee/skin guards, full mx upper protection with my light Icon hoodie and my cold weather summer gloves... it worked well but I did go out and get some light weight Kline gloves and some Sorel boots good to -40 degrees. I rode just about 70 miles this weekend. Using the MX helmet with new snow goggles and a quick release worked very well, I used some anti-fog spray- I don't recall any issues that last ride.  The Sorel boots worked well too, my feet did get just a little cold but I didn't need wiggle my toes or do anything to warm them up. I like the gloves but I did have to stop a few times to warm my hands back up once I was cruising down the ice road on the lake. I'll probably get a better pair of Kline gloves and use the current ones for shoveling or stationary work...



For the studs, I picked those up the same place I bought the bike... the Yammy Dealship. I went in the week before I picked up the stuff to set this up and the guy showed my the box of 1,000 studs. The next week I went in and asked him for some studs, he came back with a box of 250... I was like nope GIVE me the big box  lol   Used most of'em between the two tires... about 80 bucks for the box.

The way it's setup now is awesome - if I wasn't expecting it to dump a whole lotta snow soon I'd leave it but I'm searching for a good paddle tire to put something like 1 and a quarter inch spikes in. The dealership also has the spikes, I saw'em they look cooool. When I came back to pick up goggles the guy said someone else was setting a paddle up like this and was asking - how the hell do you keep the tube from popping? I was thinking about that too beforehand.  The spikes have backing plates on the inside of the tire. I was thinking a tube to line the inside but a coworker said they make a foam insert for mx tires. Haven't looked into it much but I found a rear for 80 bucks - I guess they wear out kinda quick on dirt but we'll see how it does in the snow, I wouldn't think their'd be much friction inside of a tire if it's basically just free spinning in the snow...

Right now I can go much faster on snowy pavement then I can on most of the tracked up trails. With my speedo off I'm usually going 20-35 in the snow not fast but - hey I'm on a bike with kobbies... I told a coworker what I did and he said he rode his buddy's quad with studs and he came flying onto a road sideways at 30mph - I'm guessing bare pavement and lost control. As long as theirs a good 'snow' cover on the road I'm not concerned.  Since I was getting a bit chilled at the end of the day Sunday I bailed off the lake at the boat ramp that hooks up to the road. I tried riding off the road but the loose snow torn up by sleds was really difficult to ride on so I said screw this and joined the traffic... people were most definitely doing double takes watching a bike in the winter cruise 40mph on the main road... I do stay off the roads as much as possible though...

Next winter a 450 Yamaha and a Timbersled snowbike kit is the goal...

I'm surprised you had that much light to ride during the day. How many hours of daylight to do get this time of year?

Yeap - Not much light at that point in time... Those pictures were in December so maybe 4.5-6 hours of light a daylight... Definitely getting more light now in February, not enough to go riding after work (5pm) but about another week or so and I'll be cruising it again on weekdays. Tomorrow I Shall RIDE!!! Got the GoPro Charged and gotta remount it...

Here's another December picture...



"Yeah, Yeah... I'm on a WR - Now get out of my way"... heh Last weekend I was cruising through the tundra and basically hit an ice rink at 35 mph and instantly went completely sideways for 80ft then kinda came to a stop and proceeded to do about 5 donuts before I straightened it back out and continued on my way...

I use to ice race in the 70`s with studded tires in Northern BC, very close to what you have done, its a hoot till the back end is in front of the front end. Im still in Northern BC but I winter in southern Arizona so now I can ride all year round, love it, except Im old hahaha cheers.