wanna know what's NOT fun?

[Climb01742]

riding skinny road tires on ice and snow. went out this morning at 7. major roads were clear of snow. ventured further afield to some back country roads. BIG mistake. suddenly, roads weren't clear. nothing but snow and ice. oh boy. luckily, only was passed by two cars. trying to control road tires (open pro rims/vittoria corsa tires) on snow/ice SUCKS. first time in my life i wished i'd had fat knobby tires and canti brakes. i was honestly scared. not of falling but of falling under a car. kept speed slow, tried to keep my balance centered over frame, kept seated, and turned VERY slowly. yikes. how the heck do you guys ride cross? legs got a good workout. heart got a better one. :rolleyes:

[e-RICHIE]

it's not road season yet, is it?

[Bruce K]

Climb;

As I started to read your post all I could think of was, why, in that beautiful stable of your, don't you have a cross bike for winter training?

The cross tires are wider, and some have lugs like MTB tires. It helps ALOT in the gunky stuff but the trade off is rolling resistance on the clean roads.

My street and the surrounding area look OK for road bikes but I prefer not to expose them to raod salt or its remnants. My driveway/hill on the other hand....

Hang in there guy. You are WAY ahead of me in winter stuff. Hopefully today will be the serious kick-off to get back into shape.

BK

[TimD]

Climb, I'm happy you made it out, but I'm happier that you made it back. I looked out the window this morning at my own back road and thought "No way. Tomorrow."

No shame in knobbies, V-brakes, and fenders this time of year.

Be careful out there!

TimD

[vandeda]

LOL, Climb, you're more adventurous than I am then. When it gets icy, I get the knobbys with the studs. Though personally, if there's snow ... well, sticky snow ... I'd prefer disc brakes. The v-brakes on my mtn bike became useless once they gummed up w/snow.

But hey .... the nice thing though is, it really taught 'ya to ride smooth ... one wrong move and you'd be kissing the ground ... but trust me, with knobby tires and studs, you'll be surprised how much traction 'ya got. The snow is a fantastic work out though, isn't it ;)

e-richie, has road season ended? whenever the roads & shoulders are clear enough, I continue to commute on my road bike ... i guess i'm not sure if i'd do a ride for fun, but there's little time for that regardless even in the summer, so most riding is for commuting purposes. plus, an old, free road bike works great since you don't have to worry about the salt ....... or ... more like not care.

dan

[pale scotsman]

Sir Climb - Busting your *** is one thing, but busting your *** and then getting run over is another. Been there done that. Well not the run over thing, knock on wood. It's time for sir climb to buy (gasp) a mountain bike. Yep, that's right a rigid go anywhere, do anything, and if the snow ain't too deep I'm going to ride mountain bike. My .02 alabamian, crud infested, damn this cold needs to go away... cents.

[William]

Cross
Mountain
~or~
Just get yourself an old Raleigh or bridgestone. It will have lots of clearance to put just about any size knobby cross tire on. It will make a big difference compared to the slippery 700x23's. Salt and crude? Who cares.

Just build a slippery, salty, sludgemongering, Sandy slaying, sipping Southern Comfort winter ride. Your body, and your other bikes will thank you for it.

William

[bags27]

Climb,
now's a good time for a fixie with 700x32 tires and fenders (funny thing: I just happen to have one). Will get you there safely and will help build the right kind of pedalling action for the spring.

[Ti Designs]

I took the crew out to Harvard MA today, Oak Hill Road had a few patches of full snow cover. I thought it was good practice for riding pave', not that there's any to be found around here. The best part was the closed bridge by Forge Village with about 4" of heavy snow on it...

[Climb01742]

I took the crew out to Harvard MA today, Oak Hill Road had a few patches of full snow cover. I thought it was good practice for riding pave', not that there's any to be found around here. The best part was the closed bridge by Forge Village with about 4" of heavy snow on it...

clearly we have very different definitions of "fun". :rolleyes: my snowy patches were in carlyle and bedford.

[Too Tall]

If that happens again tap the tires down to 75psi or so. E-twizzler is right...what ARE you thinking?

[e-RICHIE]

40 minutes on my cross bike = 3 hours on
my road bike. 'not sure why i'm sharing this.

[Climb01742]

If that happens again tap the tires down to 75psi or so. E-twizzler is right...what ARE you thinking?

that was the problem, TT, i wasn't thinking. :rolleyes: but you have no idea how much i HATE my trainer at this moment. next winter a cross bike or something with fat tires may be in the cards...did i mention how much i HATE my trainer?

[Bradford]

Climb, Climb, Climb, what are you doing? With all those beautiful bikes, you don’t have one that is a practical, adaptable workhouse? I’ll leave it to Bruce K and eRitchissimo to sing the praises of cross bikes, I’ll put my vote in for buying a touring bike to go along with your stable of thoroughbreds.

I have a beautiful IF Independence Andrew Fullerton helped me build that I use for all those practical things my Legend can’t do. For this time of year I throw on the Conti Top Tour 700 x 37s and breeze over the ice and muck. To keep the road spooge off of me, I put on fenders. I think it would take wider tires, but 37s seem to be wide enough for me. If it gets even worse, I take off the Contis and put on my studded tires and can ride on pure ice.

For the rest of the year, I change out the tires depending on the ride. For most rides, some 700 x 28s work fine, although sometimes I’ll throw a 700 by 32 on the back. With the rack on the back (and sometimes on the front), I can use it for anything from a full tour to a light weekend tour to a trip to the farm stand. And there is nothing better than commuting on the bike. Why use the car to go pick up summer corn and vegetables when you can take the bike. For that matter, why are you using a car when you go to the library, the drugstore, or for any thing else you can fit in a couple of panniers or a rack trunk? It feels great to take your bike for errands instead of the car.

Last year a friend got married in Bridgeton Maine, so I loaded up the touring bike and road the 250 miles. I lot of people enjoyed the wedding, but no one enjoyed the trip up as much as I did.

If you don’t want to spend the cash on a new bike, you can pick up a Cannondale or Trek touring bike on ebay and just use it for days like this and trips to the store. I’ve seen plenty go for less then you’d spend on a fancy set of wheels.

I love fast bikes, but sometimes it makes a lot more sense to drag the touring bike out and put it to good work. :banana:

[vandeda]

Climb,

I agree w/a lot of the posts here. get yourself a nice cross/touring bike. don't care about weight or something you don't want to worry about, then pick up an cheap bike from yesteryear that you can beat on.

"Why use the car to go pick up summer corn and vegetables when you can take the bike"

I couldn't agree with Bradford more here. Oh man, how I LOVED to go to the apple orchards here in the albany area in the late summer. Fill the bags up with ~20 lbs of apples (gotta be careful not to damage them though). Inexpensive bike, panniers on the front and back, set of full fenders (though front fenders never seem to come down far enough) and you're all set to go. Oh, and a good headlight is good too. I was given an '88 Centurion Le Mans ... needed some now parts like CHAIN (the original when i got the bike 3 years ago!!!), BB, freewheel and such. But, it rides pretty nice, and since it's old, thick tubing, I can beat on it all day long and neither hurt it, nor even care.

Commuting by bike rules.

Bradford, you're ride to your friends wedding sounds awesome. I was hoping to do a trip from albany to ocean city nj (~300 miles) last year, but i started planning too late ... and getting the Centurion in good running order, and i'm still not sure of any good routes in nj. hopefully something sometime.

rock on and ride on .... spring is right around the corner :D

dan

[JohnS]

did you ever think of just making a u-turn and going back to the clear roads?

[bcm119]

Climb, theres this place I think you'd like... its called Santa Barbara...don't know if you've heard of it?

[Peter]

e-RICHIE-40 minutes on my cross bike = 3 hours on
my road bike. 'not sure why i'm sharing this.

This doesn't make sense to me-if 40 minutes on your cross bike equals 3 hours on a road bike, then why not just ride your cross bike for all your training and save 2 hours and 20 minutes in training time EVERY WORKOUT?

I'll tell you why- because IT DOESN'T WORK. You can ride 3 hours on the road because you're doing it at a lower heart rate. Forty minutes cross riding seems brutal because your heartrate is pegged.

The real question is why don't you do your road rides at the same intensity as your cross rides?

This would easily be proven using a heartrate monitor with a downloadable memory.

[e-RICHIE]

"This doesn't make sense to me-"

that's fine - i won't lose any sleep or have to
lose my cat 2 license!

"why don't you do your road rides at the same
intensity as your cross rides?"

3 hours at "that" pace would be counterproductive.
the idea is to be fit for the race, not tired.

"why not just ride your cross bike for all your training
and save 2 hours and 20 minutes in training time
EVERY WORKOUT?"

peter, i do. i'm on the cross bike at my cross
venue at least 90% of all my rides.


"This would easily be proven using a heartrate monitor
with a downloadable memory."

get a peter meter? you are kidding me, right!!?

[Climb01742]

Climb, Climb, Climb, what are you doing? With all those beautiful bikes, you don’t have one that is a practical, adaptable workhouse? I’ll leave it to Bruce K and eRitchissimo to sing the praises of cross bikes, I’ll put my vote in for buying a touring bike to go along with your stable of thoroughbreds.

bradford--i've been thinking exactly the same thing. i'm kinda slow...it takes me awhile to figure things out. :rolleyes: but seriously, if i'm going to live and ride in new england, i need something i can put fatter tires on. exactly what, i'm trying to figure that out.

as for riding to work, come march i'll be able to...and will. i'm a partner in a small biz, and one of the "perks" is deciding where your office is. our lease is expiring and at the end of feb, we're moving our office to a town that is (surprise, surprise) within riding distance!!!

[Climb01742]

did you ever think of just making a u-turn and going back to the clear roads?

john, during the first stretch, i was too stubborn/dumb to be that smart. i kept thinking, this won't last...it'll get better...no. but when i hit the second stretch, two towns over, i was smart enuf to just turn around. as i said above, it takes me a while to figure stuff out. second time i told myself i wasn't being a wuss to turn around...i was just living to ride another day. :rolleyes:

[Climb01742]

Climb, theres this place I think you'd like... its called Santa Barbara...don't know if you've heard of it?

bcm--funny you should say that...in march, i'm taking the family there...and believe me, i'm counting the days...no, make that i'm counting the hours...minutes...seconds...

any restuarant recommendations?

any ideas for stuff locally an 8-year-old would have fun doing?

any suggestions in general? i'd appreciate them, for sure. thanks!!!!

[TimD]

I took the crew out to Harvard MA today, Oak Hill Road ...

No way I would have tried that road yesterday!!! The descent into Harvard Center is 40 MPH easy...

TimD

[Bradford]

Climb,

If you can fit on my 59 x 59 IF Independence, youre welcome to try it out. It is hard to find a nice touring bike for a test ride.

[Climb01742]

Climb,

If you can fit on my 59 x 59 IF Independence, youre welcome to try it out. It is hard to find a nice touring bike for a test ride.

bradford, thanks very much for your kind offer but it would take about a week on a spanish inquisition rack to stretch me enuf to fit a 59 square! you must be tall...at least taller than me. but thanks!

[Bradford]

Yeah. 6'3", 215.

I'm thinking of changing my screen name to Downhill02864.

[weisan]

Climb-pal...I was watching the 2001 Paris Roubaix video, any chance we will see you in this year's race? :D

Domo's Wilfried Peeters, the solo breakaway rider. He must have a gut of steel. How did he manage to stay in that aero position the whole time, that's my question!?

[bcm119]

bcm--funny you should say that...in march, i'm taking the family there...and believe me, i'm counting the days...no, make that i'm counting the hours...minutes...seconds...

any restuarant recommendations?

any ideas for stuff locally an 8-year-old would have fun doing?

any suggestions in general? i'd appreciate them, for sure. thanks!!!!

SB in March? Ahh, it should smell great. The Solvang Century is March 12, I was thinking of going down for it. If you won't have a bike, bring an appetite. For breakfast, the Comeback Cafe on lower State St. For lunch, try Los Arroyos mexican on Figeuroa St, La Superica on Milpas St, or Super Cucas mexican on Micheltorena on the Westside. For dinner, Ca Dario on Anacapa & Victoria has great Italian for alot of $$, for cheaper but good Italian try Via Maestra 42 on upper State St. The Brewhouse on Montecito St near the traintracks is an excellent restaurant, although its a young crowd and can be loud. Brophy Bros. on the wharf is always fun, but New England style seafood in SB always struck me as odd. For the best food in SB, at any price, I like Downey's on State St near the Arlington Theatre. Also visit Dave Letteiri's bike shop Fastrack Bicycles on Canon Perdido. Dave was a Postal mechanic and an ex-olympic trackie. For an 8-year old, I'm not too good with that stuff... but there are some batting cages on lower Milpas. And the zoo is top notch for a small city.

Just don't go to the real estate office. Have fun!

[JohnS]

For entertainment you could go down the road to Santa Maria and try to get seats for the trial of the self-proclaimed King of Pedoph,,,I mean Pop!

[rhmiller]

Climb, sounds like you did a good job handling the bike in those conditions. Knobbies wont solve all of the weather problem. I ride mountain bike in the winter and when I feel like in the rest of the year. Today I opened the celler door ready to go and there was hail coming down. It was very small and figuring it would only last a few minutes I went out anyway. Almost got hit by lightening. Turn around and went home. Total ride time: ~10 minutes.

-Ralph

[Climb01742]

SB in March? Ahh, it should smell great. The Solvang Century is March 12, I was thinking of going down for it. If you won't have a bike, bring an appetite. For breakfast, the Comeback Cafe on lower State St. For lunch, try Los Arroyos mexican on Figeuroa St, La Superica on Milpas St, or Super Cucas mexican on Micheltorena on the Westside. For dinner, Ca Dario on Anacapa & Victoria has great Italian for alot of $$, for cheaper but good Italian try Via Maestra 42 on upper State St. The Brewhouse on Montecito St near the traintracks is an excellent restaurant, although its a young crowd and can be loud. Brophy Bros. on the wharf is always fun, but New England style seafood in SB always struck me as odd. For the best food in SB, at any price, I like Downey's on State St near the Arlington Theatre. Also visit Dave Letteiri's bike shop Fastrack Bicycles on Canon Perdido. Dave was a Postal mechanic and an ex-olympic trackie. For an 8-year old, I'm not too good with that stuff... but there are some batting cages on lower Milpas. And the zoo is top notch for a small city. Just don't go to the real estate office. Have fun!

wow!! thank you SO much. luckily, i love both mexican and italian. and i'll definitely check out the bike shop. this is a huge help...thanks!

[TimD]

Went out today for an hour with a buddy. About a mile from the coffee shop we passed the back entrance to a park (Elm Bank, in Natick & Wellesley). "What's that?" inquires my pal. "Oh, that's cool, do you want to go check it out?" "Sure." "Well, that road looks pretty slick." "Paris-Roubaix!" and in he goes. Uh, OK...

So we head vvvvverrrry sloooowly up the short but absolutely, positively, completely ice-covered road. We are talking skating rink here. Not a bare patch to be seen.

I slow to a crawl and start to consider dismounting. My buddy is just up ahead.

SLAM the front wheel is gone in a heartbeat and I am on my butt, cushioned by my left wrist. Someday I will learn to fall without actually trying to break my fall... My buddy hears the noise, turns his head, and SLAM he's down too.

Fortunately no significant damage to body and none whatsoever to the bikes, although my wrist is sore now and may keep me off the bike for a few days. Bone & connector pain is somehow different from the odd cut, scrape, or muscle contusion, that's for sure.

No one to blame but ourselves for this bit of boneheadedness. if you can't be careful, at least be smart out there. :crap:

TimD

[Climb01742]

tim, sorry you went horizontal. it was windy as h*ll out ther today too. if ice is what cobbles ride like, i have even more respect for belgians. its weird how dry and clear the main roads are but how icy some back roads are. during my sat. ride i kept thinking...fall smart, fall smart...i doubt i would have been any more successful than you. heal fast, tim.

[vandeda]

Glad you're OK though .... hopefully your wrist will be all better in a couple days. Yeah .... studs are what you need on the ice .... you'll be surprised how much traction you have .... if you ever try studded tires .... one hint ... do not put your foot down ... riding on ice w/studs is easy, trying to mounting the bike after stopping/falling is hard.

Ride safe ... and watch out for that slick stuff ...

Dan