Wow, January’s almost over, and it occurred to me that I’ve been pretty passive about this blog. I also realize that there are probably millions of blog entries out there that start in this same vein.
Some new talking points:
- it got cold! It got dark! Unfortunately the latter of the two forced me to stop riding. My commute is too far to deal with night time traffic, and adding in the cold just didn’t make it worth it. I’ve still been taking the kids on Saturday morning to german school by bike, no matter the weather. This makes the outing a bit more of an adventure, and last week, we hit the playground for the first time in a long time. And with Monday’s rain washing away and melting all the snow, yesterday was a perfect day to ride.
- I got some Bar Mitts off of eBay, and have to say they worked very well. The main issue is not my hands getting cold, but them getting too hot, THEn too cold. With these, I had on thin xc gloves, and if they started feeling a little warm, i slipped them out of the covers and they regulated. The only problem with them is really the lack of hand locations: it was cold enough that i wanted to keep my hands in there, but i couldn’t get 100% comfortable. that said, it’s a tradeoff, until it gets back above freezing.
- I finally “finished” my Fuji rebuild. I had originally chosen some nice big 27″ 1 1/4 Schwalbe tires, and once installed realized they might be too big to still use fenders. If i want to make this the wonderful riding bike I know it wants to be, I think might need to change the handlebar form moustache to drop and from 27″ to 700c to fit in some fenders. i also need a rack. but these all cost money, and since it rides and i have other bikes, there’s no rush.
I hope to put up some pictures soon, since i’m very happy with how the fuji’s turning out…
It’s a bummer when you’re kept off the bike isn’t it? My commute is quite short, but there are several unavoidable stretches of road that are complete ice, that I must go on. The real problem with them is the snow is 3ft deep on the shoulders, and taking the whole lane can be risky. I was driving me crazy at first, but now I just accpeted that I’ll be off the bike for a while, and look forward to spring like my kids do to Christmas.
We’ll be back riding soon enough!
Cheers.