Month: March 2017

It happened this weekend.

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The studded tires came off and the summer treads went on. All the tires I handled were Schwalbes. That will tell you the state of my thumbs. They are raw from coaxing those tough beads onto the rims. For those tracking things at home, the studded tires were 26 x 1.75 Schwalbe Marathon Winter. The summer tires I’m currently using on this bike are 26 x 2.0 Schwalbe Supremes. Interestingly enough, they measure almost the same width on the rim with a caliper despite being two different sized tires.

The annual ritual of removing the studded tires is always a milestone. It signals the arrival of above freezing temps. I’m not commuting by bike many days lately. Back when I commuted daily, the day the studs came off was always a big day. And a bit stressful some years. Take them off too early and get surprised by a late Spring snow storm, and you regret it. There’s been a few years when I’ve had to put the studded tires back on.

This years removal was about three to four weeks earlier than normal. On average the studded tires usually come off the third week of April. That’s about the time we no longer drop below freezing at night.

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The best thing about taking the studded tires off is the first ride on the bike. I feel like Superman on the bike with faster rolling tires. And the lack of the “sizzlin’ bacon” sound of the steel carbide studs on pavement is sooo nice. It feels like I’m gliding along effortlessly and stealthy quiet. To top if off I gave the bike a good scrubbing to remove all the accumulated winter grit and salt. It felt, and looked like, a new bike. You know what a joy it is to ride a new bike.

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Riding the local mtb trails on the Pugsley was definitely not an option. The trails are officially closed. We are into the mud season. Trails will be closed to all users until it drys out. That could be in two weeks or six weeks if we have a wet Spring.

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I chose to ride Skyline parkway. I timed it today so that I was able to get in a decent ride between rain showers. Skyline has extremely low traffic on a wet, cold, foggy Sunday afternoon. I enjoyed cruising along silently on my bike in the dampness, with the woods shrouded in fog. It was quite meditative. When I stopped to take the above picture I started to admire the look of the raw, unpainted stainless steel tubing used on this bike. All cleaned up the unpainted steel frame had an enticing shiny look to it in the low light conditions. I snapped a few pictures of it.

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These low light conditions also seem to “illuminate” Alex Cook‘s (the builder) frame building skills. One interesting highlight of this frame is the use of a 1″ steerer tube. While everyone else is building with 1  1/8th” headtubes or tapered headtubes, Alex suggested we go with a 1″ on this bike. He said it would blend better with the over aesthetic of this frame. I think he was right. In fact, I think he nailed it.

It’s always nice to have an enjoyable ride on a day that proved hard to get motivated to go out. Although I admit I was a bit chilled when I arrived home. A hot cup of tea was in order. My wife has quite a selection of loose leaf teas from The Tea Source in St. Paul, Minnesota. I picked a nice Roasted Chestnut black tea. Of course I used a mug I designed. I thought it was a fitting theme for today’s ride.

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My Spring sale at my store, Salty Pedaler, goes thru April 7, 2017. Use code spring2017 to get 15% off all orders.

Cycle on people.

Four Season Cycling? How about six seasons?

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March 17th snow.

Our yo-yo winter continues. Warm, cold, thaw, freeze, over and over. This far North we’re used to everything freezing up in November and not thawing until April. This year has been weird. That’s the word I’ve heard used a lot this winter. We’ve had at least one major thaw each month so far this year. And then it snows again. Like it did this past Friday. And then two days later it’s mostly gone.

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I got out on a bike both days this weekend. Yesterday it was very sunny, and just warm enough to melt about half our snowfall from Friday.

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Today it was cloudier, but the melting continued.  On today’s ride I started thinking about the name of this blog: Four Season Cycling. I have to comment that it’s definitely not four seasons that last an equal amount of time on the calendar. If anything, Winter lasts the longest. Up to six months. That is if you count the winter months from when the leaves are on the ground in late October and up until green-up happens in the Spring. This typically happens around Memorial Day. It’s not until the late May holiday weekend that leaves are finally out and the lilacs and fruit trees are starting to blossom.

My thought was to add a couple of seasons during the shoulder months to “shorten” the winter season. I’m thinking late October and November could be a new season. April and the first couple of weeks of May could be another new season. We will need new names for these shoulder seasons. Or maybe just combine the names of the adjoining seasons like Winspring and Fallter?

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The old Endion Train Depot in Canal Park (not it’s original location).

Well, regardless of what we call the seasons and how many there happen to be, the hardiest Minnesotans enjoy riding through them all.

Cycle on!

 

The Blue Truck/Xtracycle emerges from hibernation.

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If you’re new to this blog in the past three months or so, you may not have seen pictures of the above bike before. It is my cargo hauling bike, my main errand runner, the bike that allows me to be mostly car-free. It will be ten years old this year in it’s current configuration. The frame is about 29 years old. I use this bike approximately 8 out of the 12 months each year. It hibernates during the the four coldest, sloppiest months of the year. I like to keep the number of bikes exposed to the harsh winters to a minimum. This one gets the winter off.

I wasn’t planning on getting it out today. We are members of a CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture). In the winter we get a farm share once a month. Today was the day. Our farm has an enormous root celler. They put up 50,000 pounds of root vegetables each year. So we have access to locally grown potatoes, carrots, onions, squash, rutabagas, parsnips, and beets all winter long. Susan uses our one household car daily to get to work. So once the Xtracycle goes into hibernation, she stops and picks up the farm share for us. I came home on the city bus today and had a bit of a walk from the bus stop. It was sunny with little wind and a temperature around the freezing mark. The March sunshine felt warm on my face. With the time change this past weekend it stays light into the evening now. I had an itch to get out on a bike. The roads happened to be dry and clear of ice and snow. I decided it was time to awaken the Blue Truck and go get our farm share. Susan typically works later then me, so she is more then happy to give up this task to me.

Even though “winter” can last well into April here in Northeasten Minnesota, the first ride of the year on the Xtracycle always makes it feel like Spring is here. Looking forward to a summer of errands on this bike and maybe even another decade of utility biking on this blue machine I call the Blue Truck/Xtracycle.

.'94 Toyota

For those that have not heard the story. The reason I call it the Blue Truck/Xtracycle is because the last vehicle I owned was a blue 1994 Toyota Hilux Truck. I sold it in 2002 and haven’t owned a vehicle since. I used to do all my hauling with that truck. I loved having that truck. Now I use the blue Xtracycle for all my hauling.

Bent Chain Rings and Wacky Weather.

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Doug’s Pug at Kingsbury Creek.

When I last posted I had taken the Pugsley out on a day with some fresh snow. The snow was covering lots and lots of ice left from some thawing and a rain storm. I wrote about taking a couple of falls in the first 3 miles. What I didn’t mention is a third fall later in the ride while walking the bike down a treacherous ice covered descent. My feet slipped out from under me and I fell towards the bike. I ended up falling on the bike with the handlebar  grips smashing into my mouth. At first I thought I might have knocked a couple teeth loose and given myself a fat lip. I was sore, but it wasn’t that bad. No loose teeth. It was at that point I decided I’d had enough and headed home.

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Trail along Knowlton Creek on the east side of Spirit Mountain.

On the way home that day I noticed a new noise while pedaling. Sounded like something hitting something else on every revolution of the cranks. At first I was baffled. But then I saw what was causing it. I had bent the bash guard and possibly my outer chain ring. The noise was the chain hitting the adjacent chain ring or bash guard. I’m using a Surly Mr Whirly MWOD crank. It’s set up as a double with a steel inner chain ring and an aluminum outer chain ring and bash guard.

I’m not sure when I bent it. I’m sure it was on one of the falls. I replayed the falls in my head for the next three days. My conclusion was I couldn’t have bent it while falling while riding it. It’s possible my knee made contact with it as I fell on top of the bike when I fell while walking the bike. Although, I keep thinking if I hit it with my knee hard enough to bend it, my knee should be hurting. It’s not, so I’m not 100% sure.?? Before I headed out yesterday I needed to try and bend the rings back. I’ve never had good luck bending aluminum back into shape. But thirty minutes in the basement with the bike in the Park Tool work stand and some bending in the bench vise and I had both the bashguard and the chain ring back close to true. Sometimes my mechanic skills I better then I think they are.

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Kingsbury Creek

Fast forward to yesterday, which was Saturday. We’d had more warm weather this past week followed by some wet snow, followed by temperatures around 0F degrees Thursday night. After eleven winters of fat tire riding on snow, I’ve become quite good at predicting trail conditions. Well, at least until this winter. The wild swings in temperatures this year have really thrown me for a loop. I’m not used to January and February thaws as big as we’ve had. Thaws that completely change the snow pack. I thought for sure after the wet snow followed by dropping temps, the conditions should be fairly crusty.

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Up on Spirit Mountain with the St Louis River below and Lake Superior in the upper left of the picture.

I was wrong. The temperature was approaching 30F degrees and the sun had just come out from behind cloud cover when I left my house. The trails were not crusty at all. These were snow mobile trails, not the local singletrack. I found the trails to be very soft. There had been very little, or no snowmobile traffic. The snowmobiles will compact the fresher snow to some extent. This helps it to firm up with the temperature drop. No such luck. The snow was so loose I was sweating heavily and working hard.

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I ended up taking it easy and enjoying the sunshine and snow. Another warm-up and lots of melting were in store for today. Another wild swing in temperatures with rain for Monday. This time of year you never know when the last ride on snow will be. I try to get out there as much as I can.