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#61
05-31-2023, 10:10 AM
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#62
05-31-2023, 10:24 AM
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I'm not sure I put on winter booties all last winter either! Booties are the only thing I truly hate about winter riding. Some of that is just doing other things and not feeling the need to absolutely have to ride 3-5x/week all winter. Variety is good.
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#63
05-31-2023, 10:29 AM
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I didn't mind that winter, but if you're going to propose that a particular area is a paradise for riding, you have to take points off if the riding is that much more challenging for four to five months.
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#64
05-31-2023, 10:53 AM
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#65
05-31-2023, 03:10 PM
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As for western NC people being nice...people must be really mean where you're from. I lived in Raleigh before, and it took me a while to realize that people didn't in fact hate me, its just a WNC thing to be short with strangers, there's very much a "mind your business" culture here.
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#66
05-31-2023, 08:18 PM
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I met a trucker and his wife in a hotel once in W NC and I asked him the question of "where is the best "PLACES" to live in the USA. He was an independent guy, owned his own rig, and hauled power plant parts around in the USA in all the seasons. Was a small businessman. Granted....he didn't seem like a cyclist. But there is good cycling in lots of places.
His answer kinda surprised me, but he said....."about anywhere not too far N or S of I 40 across the USA. I have spent some time in New England, mostly up and down the coasts, some inland in New Hampshire and Vermont. I much prefer living here about 15 miles NE of Orlando. I would love to spend summers in MV, but can't afford $500/night hotel rooms too long. I have never been anywhere there is more year around cycling activity than around here...at least in USA. And our county leaders are extremely supportive of cycling for both exercise and as transportation...wide paved trails in most directions....can stay gone all day and never mix with cars. And when it gets hot and humid, can either go out early in AM then hit the pool, or get in my car and head for NC mountains, a day away. Eco tourism is getting to be a big deal around here. Especially the Coast to Coast trail mostly finished about 255 miles (C2C it's called). Titusville to St Petersburg. Comes near my house. See people and groups from all over the world....but mostly UK and Europe. When I see them, I take their pics and put on FB for their families to see. Last edited by Ralph; 05-31-2023 at 08:39 PM.
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#67
06-01-2023, 09:46 AM
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It has been shocking to just throw on shorts and a jersey recently to head out the door.
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#68
06-01-2023, 10:40 AM
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Bikes getting destroyed by the winter weather is kind of overblown. If you go out on a $5k-10k bike with zero precautions all winter you get what you get. If you go out on a less expensive bike that is prepared for bad weather things will go way better with way less damage and way less need to constantly clean stuff.
Yes I've destroyed stuff, I usually limit which bikes I ride in the winter for that reason. I mostly ride my All City Space Horse only in the winter for the last 10 years. I have yet to destroy the original wheels/hubs, which are modest Tiagra. They have had one bearing service in ten years. The Frame is 100% fine due to the electroplating. It has had 3 groupsets on it, but would realistically be on the 2nd groupset. It came with Tiagra, then I put SRAM Rival on it, didn't like it, and went to 105. The 105 has been on it 6 years now without anything failing. The main thing that fails is the rim brakes. It's probably had 5 sets of brake calipers in 10 years from salt damage despite running fenders, IME V-brakes, Mini-Vs, and Cantis get destroyed very easily by salt due to where the pivots are. Overall a very cheap dependable bike that has had very low running cost given the amount of bad weather it's seen. MTB I have basically never really destroyed anything. Hydro disc brakes are way more impervious to road salt than rim brakes IME, and usually if I go out on my MTB it's not getting exposed to as much salt. I like winter MTB a lot as it always seems warmer due to the trees/brush blocking the wind + lower speeds and you have no bugs/ticks/poison ivy to worry about. A big part of saying winter riding sucks/cold weather riding sucks is probably riding the wrong kind of bike and trying to do the wrong kinds of rides. The super fast blingy road bike is just not the most fun in the winter because the bulkier clothes make it's riding position less comfortable and the higher speeds make you feel colder, and it sticks you on the road around the cars and the slop, and the bike itself likes smooth roads and those are less common in the winter. That bike and the riding it is best for are for spring/summer/fall. I dislike the extra 5-10 minutes of prep with all the clothes but it's not hard.. after about 1-2 winters you have that all figured out. But it does kind of suck if the rides are short and you're time crunched. Last edited by benb; 06-01-2023 at 10:42 AM.
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#69
06-01-2023, 01:51 PM
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#70
06-01-2023, 04:10 PM
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#71
06-02-2023, 11:57 PM
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Why have New England, when you can have England Classic.
     And you don't need winter boots for cycling.
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