Even when it's cold out, I feel sorry for those stuck in cars

I'm sure they're taking pity on me too, out there, in the cold, riding a bike. If they only knew how great it is.

I do still need to work on my winter gear though. Nasty cold fingers again. It was -9C (15F) and -14C (7F) with the windchill, and my skiing gloves just don't do the trick. This surprises me as they are good gloves, and while on the ski hills, they're always great. Must be the wind. I'm gonna look into a set of poggies, or some snowmobile mitts. Flirting with frostbite isn't much fun, and limits time outside. Today after about 15 minutes I was in pain. Shut the ride down at an hour, and again, pain when I came inside.

Still beats being stuck in a car!

Ride yer bike!

Dialling in the winter gear

Every year, it seems to take a few rides to get used to riding in the cold weather. Not so much the being out in it, but the dressing properly. After a few rides, usually your gear is sorted, and you can adjust up and down, to be fairly spot on with the varying temperatures, all being cold.

This past Saturday, I took an hour and a half, to start to process. It was -23C when I left my house, and from what I remembered, I had my best selection of gear to ride in the cold, be as mobile as possible, and not overheat. For folks who don't ride in extreme cold conditions, it's far easier and more common to over-dress, and over heat than it is to under-dress. Of course once you over heat, and start sweating, then the cold can get dangerous.

With two base layers of good wool, a thin polar-fleece jacket and a wind breaker, my torso was perfect. For the legs, a thing pair of tights worn under my favorite manpris did the job. For my head, I tried something new. A thin balaclava, with my skiing helmet and goggles. Worked great. For it's intended purpose, my ski helmet would offer sufficient protection in a wipe out, and without tons of air vents and a fleece liner with earflaps, it's warm! My hands were another story. They were feeling pretty cold after 1 1/2 hrs outside, but when I stepped into our warm house, freak! I just wanted to cut them off they hurt so bad. Felt like a baby, but it was painful. Just the day before I had a pair of pogies in my hand an opted not to buy them. Now I'm wondering if they might help out.

The fact that I stop and take pictures doesn't help the hands out much either. It was my right hand, the shutter-triggering hand, that felt the coldest while out riding.

I think that once I can figure out something to keep the hands warm and toasty, I should be good to go. Winter cycling is my favorite type of cycling and I'm not sure why. I don't even like cold weather much. But there's something about the quite stillness and isolation that seems to be magnified in the cold of winter. Rides seam more epic, even though I go less distance. Somehow, 6 miles from home feels like exploring some far reaches of an uninhabited land. It's invigorating.
I'm trying to find places that I've ridden by before, but never really noticed. Exploring more deeply my own backyard you could say.
One great revelation of this exploring is the canal system, and the long culverts that are now dry and trekkable. These are really cool to walk through. This one is right under highway #1. Semis, cars and trucks were passing over-head. I couldn't hear them, they didn't know I was there. It made for a great place for a little break. Next time, I'm bringing a small stove with me and I'm going to make a cup of coffee. Micro-touring, and my good man Chris has coined it.
It's so great to get away, slow down, and enjoy what nobody else notices or can even see. Little things can have such a profound effect on life. Even in the cold.

P.S.- As a side; I write affectionately of the cold weather from here, a room overlooking the thirteenth hole of a beautiful golf course in Phoenix Arizona. Maybe the memory of the pain of cold has quickly faded. :)

Cheers.

Fall riding with the Family

This post is about a week late. But who cares.

Last weekend, with the fading nice weather, we figured it'd be wise to make the best of it. After church, the younger kidlets had a nap, and my oldest son and I headed out on the Karate Monkey. We brought a sling shot with us. At 6, it's time he learned such skills. A few hours, a few miles and just the two of us. It was awesome.

After we got home, everyone was up, and we hitched the trailer to my wife's Kona, and the 5 of us headed out for a ramble with no destination in mind. Just hit up some gravel, some canal path and enjoy being together. At the turn around point, we stopped, had a picnic of Oreos, and did some more sling shot shooting. Getting out, enjoying being together and having fun. This my friends is the awesomeness that is family. Love it.

Errands

I had some errands to run this morning, and opted to do them on the Long Haul Trucker. Love this bike. It's weird, I seem to go through spells where I exclusively ride either my LHT, or the Karate Monkey, or the fixie. One of these bikes will be my go to for a long while, and then I'll switch it up.

There are some things you get to experience that you would totally miss if you weren't on a bike. One of those things is crazy kids stunting in their cars. I watched the driver of this car start his power slide, lose it, and almost get it back. Not quite though. I also saw the cop watch the whole thing. Buddy scored himself a $225 ticket (which was pretty mild in my opinion) and a few demerits. I chatted with him while he was waiting for the tow truck. He said, "yeah, they're just giving me a little slap on the wrist." I would say so.
Stopped to listen to a few voicemails on my cell phone that I received while riding. My phone rings more now than it ever has before. I kind of hate it, but mostly it's clients booking sessions and discussing photos, so it's not all bad. It is nice to opt not to take the call and keep pedaling though.
This is the trail right behind my house. Now that the canal is drained (see last photo) there are a few places with rock-paths that I can cross if I need too. Saved myself a whole 3 minutes today. Go me! Once the snow flies, quite a few people cross country ski in there. I think I'm gonna pick up a used set of skies and give it a try this year.

Fall Riding

Fall is such a great time to be riding. The smells, the colours and the sounds of leaves crunching under the tires. This season seams to be one of the fastest to go by, and every year I just try and try to hold onto it and make it last.To that end, I've been out on my LHT. A lot. Typically several rides per day. Saddle time is the goal, not distance or speed. I'd hate to be rushing through the parks and pathways with this kind of scenery anyway. Slow down, enjoy the ride and take it in. That's what it's about.

Cheers.

The Mystery bike mysteriously disappeared!

Well, okay, it wasn't mysterious I guess. But it is gone. After giving long thought to my cycling needs, and the style of riding that I do most often, a skinny tired road racing bike was a ride that would be much use by me. So, I found it a good home. Or a good home found it. Jeff is going to put it to good use and is going to use it in some triathlons. It would indeed be a fine ride for that. Quick, but comfy. Man I will miss that bike.

Back to further thinking of my cycling needs. When I consider what bikes I actually ride, and where I actually like to ride them, I can't really dream up figures and stats. What I ride is what I ride. What I ride is my LHT and my Karate Monkey. That's pretty much it. My fixie used to see a lot of use, but after a bit of a close call earlier this year (my foot slipped off the pedal while trying to do an emergency skid stop) I kind of wonder if it's the smartest thing for me to ride a brakeless fixie, when I have a wife and family at home. I love them, they love me, and they do want me to make it home safely.

Put brakes on the fixie? Well, the kicker for me and that bike is it's pure aesthetic. I love how clean it is. When there's brakes installed, it just doesn't look as good to me. It's the clean and pure line of just bicycle that I love about that bike.

So, I'm selling it. I posted previously that I was going to sell it, but I didn't have it priced to sell really. I think I was trying to sort of go through the motions of selling a bike, minimizing my possessions, without actually having to do it. Now it's time. I'm listing it for $400. Maybe that's high? Don't think so. Paul Hubs, hand built wheels. It's a solid bike and it's well put together. If I can't get $400 for it, I'll sell it for less. I will sell it though. That's the sure thing.

I'm not sure why, but there's something about having lots of bikes that really doesn't sit well with me anymore. Not sure why. I used to revel in the fact that I had 13 bicycles, all road ready, and all mine. Not all were fancy or worth bragging about, but I like to have them. Now, I'm constantly weighing the pros and cons of each one of my bicycles. So far this year I've rid 6 from my collection. I feel as though I'm not done yet.

The question is always in my mind: "if I could only ride the KM or the LHT, which would be the best for me." I can't say. I could get some gears for the KM, and set it up for more of a utility bike that would still do well off road. I could get some slightly more aggressive treads on the LHT and use that as my only bike. I had a little email dialog with a local cyclist this week who suggested the Salsa Fargo would be the perfect in between bike for me. Yes, it might very well be. But, chances of finding one of those used are slim to none. And, I'm not going to be buying any new bikes in the near future.

For now, I continue to weigh the options and ponder what to do next. And of course, ride my bikes!

Cheers,

Jeremy

get outside and notice the un-noticed

It's good for the mind, body and soul.

KM Pseudo-conversion

The process, while it might end up being slow, has begun on setting up the Karate Monkey as a more commuter friendly bike. First step? Platform Pedals. I’ve choosen a set of Konas with a nice wide platform and removable allen screws for extra grip. Why did I choose these? Well, just because they were cheap. Nothing in the parts bin was well suited to the task, and since in the middle of the winter I’ll probably be wearing full fledged winter boots, I wanted something with a very large platform. These

should work well. Next on the list? Fenders should be the next upgrade. Those will most likely need to be ordered online, as I’ve searched a few local bike shops and no-one carries any full coverage fenders for 29er bikes. Headlight, flasher front and rear are already in place.

Oh what fun indeed....

LHT with a Basket up front

Now that the herd is being culled, it's time to play, alter and adjust the setups of the select few.

I've wondered about a basket for the front of the trucker. A few quick (and reversible) mods to the Wald, and some zip ties, and we have our testing ground. Test results didn’t really surprise me, but I was hoping for better. With any significant weight in the basket, the bikes handling is significantly compromised. To the point that I had a close call this morning while trying to avoid a puddle of water. Should this area of the bike be a place where I really want to be able to haul stuff, a few fork with more rake would be a wise investment. By that point in time, maybe a Kogswell P/R with the corrected fork rake would just be easier.

But, this was just a brief little test, and now I know. LHTs handle fine with panniers mounted on either side of the wheel and down low. Not so fine with loads mounted up above the wheel. Would have been a great, practical and dare I say……….stylish option for carry things. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Cheers.

A lesson learned

A simple one I learned today..........do not always trust your kick stand to resist the wind.
I'm sorry, my friend.

Here's a great breakfast recipe for you

Spread a little Karate Monkey over a hearty portion of fresh gravel Mix vigorously with a single speed drive train for 13 miles
Finish with fresh hot coffee

Now you're ready.

I (heart) Karate Monkey