Crazy clothes

Ok, we got here,

and after one of the worst weeks of snow I have seen, we're gonna be here for a while.  I don't care what the sacred groundhog says, I live in Michigan and we will have winter for 6 or more weeks.  Now we get to hear all the chatter about how hard it is to dress.

"My winter kit has more layers than a wedding cake." --Bike Push

"In the winter it takes 30 minutes to dress for a 60 minute ride."--some anonymous guy on Facebook.

It's hard to even imagine what they are going through.  I don't go on any fitness expeditions in the winter, but I do ride nearly every day for some reason   What would normally be a twenty minute ride in city side, can turn into 45 minutes if the streets are in bad shape.

The only extra layer I wear is 

long underwear beneath the slacks.

That's it.

When it's time to mount up, I wear a winter jacket and gloves or mittens. 

The biggest challenge I face is overheating.  It works a little like this; I walk to the garage thinking "I'm out of my f...ing mind!"  Three blocks from home, I'm zipping down to get cooled off a bit.  In the worst of weather I wear a neck gaiter to pull up over my ears and face a bit.  The other day I rode like that INTO  an -11 windchill without any discomfort.  All you need is enough to protect from the wind and lock the body heat in.

But the rest of the world, sees it like this.

Still tweesoning

 It was only a couple of weeks ago that winter hit and made things 

a pretty early mess,

Fortunately the parks department was better at clearing the trails

than the city at plowing streets and sidewalks.

Then we enjoyed an early spring, it all went away.  I was having lunch at an outdoor table while riding around shopping Xmas Eve. 

Rode my Yves Gomez (on regular tires) for a few days.

I ran across this on a magazine rack while shopping. I didn't buy one

 but it's encouraging to see something about bicycling at Barnes and Noble

that doesn't involve electronics or plastic. 

It is the end of another year, and the weather changed immediately, after Christmas we've had snow every day until now.  We're back to begging for snow plows, new ways to avoid traffic and hoping for a couple months of ski season.

We should know what we have for a couple months.

Happy New Year!

'Tis the tweason!

It's another one of those damn times in Michigan.   Daily seasonal changes become a season of their own and happen a couple times a year. The November tweason means it's sunny, cloudy, foggy, rainy and snowy in a matter of hours and we just have to adapt because it will change soon (fifteen minutes according to legend). 

But  real winter is around the corner which turned into NOW this year. It's enough to send the spandex hamsters to their spin classes and video cycling.  I'm spending the Thanksgiving holiday giving the bikes a cleaning and tuneup before putting most away for a few weeks,

The Park Tool Cyclone cleans my chains.  I've seen many internet "experts" claim that this gadget simply does not work.  My question is; If it doesn't work, why is it full of  grease and grit when I'm done?  I don't normally worry about getting my hands dirty but the gloves keep my fingers warm when the garage temps are in the twenties.

The brakes on the Soma needed adjustment and it's a simple method to use a small clamp to hold the pads to the rim.  Then adjust the barrel adjusters to about 50%, loosen the cable bolt, pull the cable taut, re-tighten the cable bolt, remove the clamp and loosen the barrel adjusters until you have exactly the brake tension you like. There is a tool called "Third Hand" to hold the caliper, but I found the clamp works better since it's adjustable, the Third Hand is not.

It seems a bit early, but I'm swapping the regular tires on  the Brompton for the studs.  It's possible we'll have snow and ice on the streets until March, so err to the cautious side. Now I can choose between the winter beater with 50mm studs and the Brompton with it's 32mm studs. the Riv's and Soma will rest in the rafters until we get a  thaw.

That wasn't the best way to spend a holiday weekend, but I am several weeks ahead and ready for any day that gets warm.

The old days are still here.

     I think is had been pre-Covid since this group of vintage bike enthusiasts had gotten together for a ride.  It had been nearly an annual thing to ride the White Pine Trail from Grand Rapids for a 40 mile trip to Sand Lake and back.  But Tom Parker was the one to motivate 16 of us to get together for a mid day ride through the trees of Michigan.  

     We started from Dwight Lydell Park in Comstock and rode north casually along the trail, there was plenty to talk about as the season ended.  Everybody was an experienced rider who had been around much longer than their vintage bikes and most of us agreed it's easier to ride 50 miles than get out of a chair after watching TV.  

The beauty of riding the trails is the availability of pit stops 

and plenty of reasons to stop along the way.

There was a lot of great gear to admire

 but the show stopper was the new custom

Grand Boise which Tim Potter brought, 

built by a small shop in Kyoto Japan.  It's a beautiful green metallic with 

every classic nut, bolt and proven technic meticulously in place.

We stopped along the river in Rockford for a group photo on the way home.

At the end of the road we had lunch at Nick Fink's bar,

 storied to be the oldest in Michigan.

Conversation there led to tales of racing triumphs and jokes about the failures in years past.  It seems everybody else took up cycle racing somewhere in their early days.  After a while Tim Potter(knowing the answer)  asked me if I had ever raced "back in the day. " I said, "No, I've never thought of cycling as a competitive sport."

Empty silent stares, 

After a few moments I explained that I started in college when I was so busy with classes and a job I needed some recreation that blended into my schedule. "It's just a fun way to go places."

More empty stares.

It always happens that way, but I am always a little surprised.