Truro’s Railyard now has a trail conditions hotline 902-956-1444.
As well they’ve hired a full time winter maintenance/groomer person.
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What? No more Frankie??
Bowater is starting to get real janky with loose fluffy snow on all the exposed roots.
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Did a quick run into Whopper this morning. Da Minion to Flipside and half way up the power lines before I gave up and doubled back. Snow over slush conditions, the ground is totally thawed and water is running under everything. Quite gross, don’t bother.
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Bridgewater rail to trail is running perfectly. It a little icey but it oddly gripy
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Bowater was pretty grippy today with just a couple inches of snow down. Making fresh tracks are always fun.
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The rail yard is in great shape, groomed and fat bike packed lots of people out today.
Don’t go down Stair way to Heaven its very muddy.
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Whooper is good for Flipside and Suzie Q loop to the fire road. Little bit slushy on the granite but otherwise rideable. Saw three skinny’s going in and knifing up my work. Hopefully they don’t do the whole loop. 
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They’ll do the whole loop. There’s a real disconnect in the community between the fat bike riders and the skinny all winter die hards.
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Surely you aren’t suggesting trails should be off-limits to skinnies after someone does a pass on a fatbike.
Groomed trails like the railyard and irishmans, sure. But whopper isn’t exactly known for being a fatbike winter wonderland. It’s a free-for-all in there. If skinnies don’t mess it up, dog walkers and trail runners will.
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Anyone have an update on conditions at Spider for a skinny all winter die hard?
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Packed but you’ll need some negative temps to stiffen it up since it softened significantly today.
Shoot for early mornings while we’re in this -1 to +1 range.
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Not totally, but a little. One of the primary advantages of a fat bike over a regular bike in the snow is the weight distribution of those big old tires at low pressures and how they don’t cut ruts like skinny tires. I agree that whopper is the wild west and things are going to get post-holed and rutted rather quickly. But its still pretty frustrating to pack in a decent track with a fat bike only to have someone on a skinny tire bike cut ruts over your track and leave it unrideable when it’s still warm and the track hasn’t set.
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Thank you for your reply. The forecast is not looking terribly helpful but I will keep my fingers crossed.
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Yes, there are inconsiderate (and uninformed) riders out there, but don’t single out “skinny all winter die hards” as problematic group- I’m one of those riders and I resent the implication. Buying skinny studded tires was a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a fat bike and not everyone has the financial means (or desire) to have a bike for each season. I ride when conditions permit- that doesn’t mean when it’s soft and slushy. And honestly, I’m curious- with those big, low pressure tires do skinny ruts even make a difference on a fatbike?
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I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer so I like to keep things simple so I can understand them. I try to roll by these simple guidelines:
- if it’s muddy and soft and I’m leaving lots of ruts I avoid singletrack and go ride doubletrack or gravel/road. Or I ride granite, granite is good all the time.
- if it’s soft snow and I’m leaving ruts I avoid fatpacked singletrack and go ride doubletrack, boot pack parks, gravel/road or the many kms of other singletrack trails that have not been packed by fatbikes. It’s actually much easier to break trail on a trailbike in a bit of fresh snow than follow soft tracks. Knifing a trailbike around soft or semi-packed snow conditions is a drag.
- if it’s icy/hardpacked snow and I’m riding my trailbike (with or without studs) on fatpacked trails and not leaving ruts I’m having fun and I’m high fiving the other trail bikes and the fatbikes alike and we’re all living large.
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Now let’s see who adopts your train of thought. 
One would think that’s a given on Clark Kent but folks are beating the shit out of it in the recent conditions. If you’re leaving ruts in the mud, don’t ride it.
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@Kristin - would love to join if you head to Spider sometime. I haven’t switched over to the studs yet, but if we decide best for the trails/ride, will wrestle them on.
I see the same old folly of: accuse the crowd for the actions of one or two happening here. Blame all winter-die-hards for the actions of a few that violated the unwritten rule.
As a winter-die-hard on 2.3" tires, I know when I’m leaving ruts and will not mess up the trails for just one ride.
@streetgang’s rules are pretty solid.
To think… two inches of snow (that is melting) is causing all this kerfuffle, lol!
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I’d like to try to get out this week.
I’ll text you instead of posting and wear a disguise if you have one 
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