Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Laziness induced single speed

Two weekends ago we (uh, almost too many people to name - Rafal, Miles, Limpach, Shim, Larry, Ryan, Roxy, Jarrett, anyone else?) had a great gravel road adventure. Rafal and I got separated from the group at the end and forgot to turn in toward Shim's house. We just putzed home instead. I got home and both me and the bike were covered in gravel mud. I cleaned myself and my clothes, but went on to neglect my bike completely till this morning.

I had the week of Christmas off, did all my shopping and prepping then, so no riding happened. I took the bus yesterday in hopes that the major streets would get another good passover with the plows. This morning, I hopped on my bike and found that a week and a half of neglect is not a good thing for a bike. I tried shifting and nothing happened. The bike was stuck in it's easiest gear (34x23) so I wasn't going anywhere fast. I hopped off and messed with the derailleur until it moved a bit. I settled on a decent enough gear combo and called it good for the ride in. There were a couple spots that my 32C road tires did not like (or rather, I didn't like as the bike floated around beneath me), but I made it ok. I should have swapped out to my studded snow tire at least on the front, but again, the laziness struck....

I hope everyone had a fun Christmas and maybe got out of their house at some point. Our new CR-V has been amazing in this weather so I'm very happy with that choice. Of course I probably won't be saying that when the the first payment comes due.

It looks like the next week at least will be too cold for any melting to happen and the highs predicted for the weekend are only in the teens. Maybe we can get that trainer session going this weekend? Anyone? It's always easier to suffer with friends rather than alone.

15 comments:

bryan said...

you know there's a trainer session every Saturday morning at the Trek Store, right?

8:30. 75-90 minutes.

munsoned said...

Oh. yeah. I forgot about that. You gonna bring my trainer in so I can use it??

munsoned said...

It's funny because it's almost appropriate that I use the, "I want my 2 dollars!" quote as that movie was set in snowy conditions and that's what we're faced with now.

Now, putting skis on my bike to chase after you would be a stretch though...

bredemske said...

you can use a shop trainer if you like.

munsoned said...

Deal. You riding, or opening the store?

bryan said...

both. 8:15 is the setup time. the DVD starts at 8:30.

Shim said...

I checked the gravel roads today, they are good to go, KL, Paul Webb and I are heading out tomorrow at 9:45 if any of you guys are up for it. I'll check email in the a.m. if you guys are interested contact me at gshimonek@aol.com.

Mike Miles said...

That sounds good Shim, but work will get in the way for me. If y'all have something on tap for Sunday post it if you don't mind?

Shim said...

Will do.

munsoned said...

Shim, I have sent you an invite to become a Mitmon blog author. Accept if you like and post your plans whenever.

Shim said...

Sounds like a pretty big responsibility, let me think about it.

Shim said...

Where did you send it? I didn't get it. Maybe you had second thoughts eh?

munsoned said...

Uh, I used the email address you gave a couple replies ago. I'll try sending it again. Make sure to clean out your junk mail in case it lands in there.

Shim said...

Yeah, it was in my spam folder, we should be good to go, we are still debating a ride this weekend based on the forecast, more to come.

Anonymous said...

Hi fellow cabin fever sufferers. What if we had a team of folks
with snowthrowers clear perhaps a few thousand feet of singletrack at Manawa or Tranquility leaving maybe a rideable 2-3 inches? I'd happily ride the same sidewinder trail over and over...

Anyplace besides gravel safe to ride? (Trails or roads?)


Arctic Biker