I started this week on the road bike putting in some solid outside miles Monday and also on Tuesday with Marni. Then the weather changed. The Fuel had my one set of Time ATAC pedals already installed so it got the called to the Show. Unfortunately for the Fuel that meant a lot of bad weather riding. After a night of snow biking and a lunchtime wet gravel ride it's filthy. The front suspension on that bike is pretty worthless when it's clean and lubed. After just the past two days it's almost a 6lbs rigid fork. The frame is spotted and speckled, the drivetrain is a mess and the tires are packed full of mud. Lucky for me I don't care. My awesome dad got me a kickass new crankset for my birthday (external bearing Hone), the chain needs replacing soon anyway and I'm going to install a 12-27 cassette out back when this one is toast. If I can ever find money to put a Reba on the Fuel it's getting one too. In short it's my $800 32lbs bone stock workhorse and it's been doing a great job. 100 miles on White Rim? No problem. 60 miles last weekend? Perfect. Not to mention all the other riding I've done on it since I got it at Veloswap. Other than a minor front hub problem it's been a rock and that's the way I like it. This summer it will be rewarded with lots of new lightweight parts that I've been stockpiling on clearance and closeouts. But today, with a high of 39 and snow already falling it's going to be more of the same.
When I left the office at lunch it was snowing hard and 32 degrees. Even with my winter gear on, minus my balaclava, I was cold. I drank an Ensure right before I left and intended to do a hard effort to see how my body would react. The ride was great! I put up times easily as fast or faster than I have done this year and had plenty of endurance to big ring the climbs. It was more wet and muddy riding but the roads and paths had already hardened up a lot due to the freezing temperatures and winds. I did a quick cool down as I got back near work and put up the bike. Since I went hard and it was Friday I took a quick shower to clean up and now I'm back at my desk. Three and a half more hours of work and then another 2-3 hours on the bike to make sure I start tomorrow's long ride tired.
I started this week on the road bike putting in some solid outside miles Monday and also on Tuesday with Marni. Then the weather changed. The Fuel had my one set of Time ATAC pedals already installed so it got the called to the Show. Unfortunately for the Fuel that meant a lot of bad weather riding. After a night of snow biking and a lunchtime wet gravel ride it's filthy. The front suspension on that bike is pretty worthless when it's clean and lubed. After just the past two days it's almost a 6lbs rigid fork. The frame is spotted and speckled, the drivetrain is a mess and the tires are packed full of mud. Lucky for me I don't care. My awesome dad got me a kickass new crankset for my birthday (external bearing Hone), the chain needs replacing soon anyway and I'm going to install a 12-27 cassette out back when this one is toast. If I can ever find money to put a Reba on the Fuel it's getting one too. In short it's my $800 32lbs bone stock workhorse and it's been doing a great job. 100 miles on White Rim? No problem. 60 miles last weekend? Perfect. Not to mention all the other riding I've done on it since I got it at Veloswap. Other than a minor front hub problem it's been a rock and that's the way I like it. This summer it will be rewarded with lots of new lightweight parts that I've been stockpiling on clearance and closeouts. But today, with a high of 39 and snow already falling it's going to be more of the same.
When I left the office at lunch it was snowing hard and 32 degrees. Even with my winter gear on, minus my balaclava, I was cold. I drank an Ensure right before I left and intended to do a hard effort to see how my body would react. The ride was great! I put up times easily as fast or faster than I have done this year and had plenty of endurance to big ring the climbs. It was more wet and muddy riding but the roads and paths had already hardened up a lot due to the freezing temperatures and winds. I did a quick cool down as I got back near work and put up the bike. Since I went hard and it was Friday I took a quick shower to clean up and now I'm back at my desk. Three and a half more hours of work and then another 2-3 hours on the bike to make sure I start tomorrow's long ride tired.
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