Inverse Proportion

23.5 degrees Fahrenheit at
7:58am eastern standard 

This time of year with the frequent freeze/thaw cycles can be difficult riding. Oh sure, a little mud and blood spices up any ride, but slogging through persistently soggy trails can become a bit of a drag.
So it is widely held in mountain biking circles that this time of year, trail conditions and temperature are inversely proportional. That is to say, the colder the better. We tested that theory today. When we rolled at 8:00am the temperature was 23.5°, trails were wicked fast, grip was outstanding, and frost crusted bridges provided some welcome pucker factor.

Let's delve into this inverse proportion thing.

If the following:

F = the fun factor and
T = temperature 

Then mathematically speaking:

F = 1 / T

Now let's apply the universal mountain biking "fun" constant of 100 because everyone knows that mountain biking is at least 100x as much fun as anything else you could be doing (except of course what TP wasn't doing this morning because he was mountain biking). So then:

F = 100 x 1 / T

That pegs today's fun factor at 4.35 (100 x 1 / 23.5). If today's ride is any indication, then a fun factor in the 4s is pretty darn fun. I checked the blog, and in 2009 we rode a fun factor in the 14s, that sounds almost illegal. But if we take this to the logical extreme (T=0°) then we are just a couple dozen degrees from INFINITY! Now wouldn't THAT be fun?

Chris

"Keep riding, Nancy. It's just water and dirt." 
     --- Huck And Roll