While I was puttering around with the new shifters on the Hunq, we had been accumulating a bunch of snow outside. It promised to make the roads dangerous or impassible until the plows got a chance to catch up and provided perfect conditions to test drive the Hunq in the snow.
This side street supplied several inches of semi-plowed and rutted surface to play with
and I was pleased to find the Hunq floating over the loose and rutted portions with little or no problem.
Positioned on the top of the bars as I would be single tracking dirt,
the "busy ness" of all the new gear was a pleasure.
Everything was within the immediate reach of my hands rather than reaching down after the bar end shifters
or riding on the hoods to use the brakes.
I know cyclocrossers like to use brifters and ride out on the hoods a lot,
but this configuration adds the power and security of a straight MTB bar
to the versatility and comfort of the drops.
Emboldened by my survival on the nasty city streets in near blizzard conditions,
I headed to a park where there had been no plowing at all.
I had about a foot or more of loose snow over the foot path trampled by dogwalkers,
a suitably unstable and dangerous place to play in failing afternoon light.
The 2 1/4" tires gripped right into the snow, in many places I sank as much as 6"
never lost my "footing," just geared down and cranked around like I knew what I was doing.
It might be overkill, but I can imagine using fully studded Nokian Extremes next season and
being able to tackle any kind of winter storm.
It seems that would be a lot more practical than a Pugsley or Mukluk
which are not really useful for any other type of riding.
It was cold and blizzardy so my test had to end
with a beer and pasta at Old Chicago.
I had more to do at home, it was time to install a brake light on Byron...did I say brake light?
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