New Years Resolutions...

PIGEONWOBBLE.GIF

And then the sun came out and melted all the snow away, long enough to turn the trails into a muddy morass,  before the temperatures dropped back down into the single digits, freezing ruts, footprints, and what snow-ice remained into hard ugly stuff.  But dry ugly stuff, and that's conditions enough for the Pigeon to come out of  hibernation and get me to work.  Single speed still feels achingly more efficient and connected than any of  my hub gear bikes.

I was gifted a Garmin Edge 200 GPS bike computer for the holidays, and I love it. No wires or anything, just turn it on, and it picks up the satellites in 10 seconds, and provides climb, average speed, speed, odometer, all of that stuff. It came with two mounts, so I can just stick it on whichever bike, or even just keep it in my pocket, as I ride, so the miles add up.  I really just care about the odometer...

So my resolution is try and do 1000 miles before RAGBRAI.  And hopefully if conditions permit, to attend that ride, and bike across the merry land of Iowa, self supported. (excepting water and food of course)  This shouldn't be too hard.

Last year, my resolution was to do 500 miles.  I picked 500 because it seemed big and impressive but not unobtainable. I honestly had no idea just how much riding I would be doing, I had only gotten a simple wired cateye computer on the Felt, and had put 124 miles on it before January 2012.   I rode 2012 with the Cateye only on the Felt, and missed counting any of my Flying Pigeon or Kruisframe miles.  I made 624 miles on the Felt alone by August or so.  On the Pigeon and Kruisframe, I made five or six 50+ mile trips, and lots more regular commuting.  So I'm thinking I probably ended up towards 1500 miles, casually.

I just want to make sure I can string 80 mile days back to back and enjoy myself.  Pack light and just go. 

Snow Studded Commute

Thursday morning I was greeted with the fact that my car wasn't starting, probably ice in the fuel lines or similar.  I dashed back into the house, and changed my clothing entirely to wool, pulled out the Felt and rode into work, braving the ice and snow again.

This really got me interested in studded bicycle tires, particularly since some of the commute had me going down streets that consisted of nothing but compacted sheet ice, two inches thick. Scary.

I checked my LBSs prices on studded tires, then checked Amazon's. There was a not discountable difference, I could get them for half the price from Niagra Cycles. (before shipping).  But my LBS is 200 yards from my workplace, and I could get the tires and have them put on the bike over lunch.  That was just too convenient.

Local Bike Shop for the win. I rode up, and of course being the middle of winter, they had no shop backlog, had the tires, and were able to put them on in about 20 minutes -  the time it took for me to eat lunch at the McDonalds across the street.  (yech)

The 45North Polara tires immediately turned even the worst offending sheet ice into entirely manageable surfaces, and improved purchase in snow and mush additionally. When I would skid or break one of the wheels loose, the rate of slipping was consistent and easy to counter. It made a hilarious difference. So much so that rather than carpool on Friday, I biked to work again.  The rolling resistance is maybe 15-20% higher, but heck that's just exercise.

All of this also has me extremely enamored of my Felt Cafe 3 again.  Light, simple and versatile. What a great catch-all bike.