I took the RockHopper today. It was 43°F but sunny, so it felt a lot warmer. Wicking t-shirt under a poly long sleeve shirt and a windbreaker and my lightest long finger gloves. Just perfect.
On one of the streets leading to the trail there is construction in the middle of the road. I saw a big Chevy pickup turn onto the street and stop at the construction site there. There was another work truck parked in the middle of the street right next to the intersection I was at. It was at blocking my view of part of the street. I got ready to roll across the street to the bike lane and here came that Chevy truck. Had I been a few seconds slower I would have been hit. There really was no way to see the Chevy pickup truck coming because of the parked truck. I will just have to be extra careful until they finish construction.
Although it's my heaviest bike, it was a nice fast ride into work aided by gentle tailwind. I forgot how heavy the bike was until I stopped at work to carry it up four steps to the back door.
Work was busy and hectic but productive. And before I knew it it was time to ride home. Still sunny, It was 68° Fahrenheit and the wind was much stronger but from the southeast so that my first leg on the trails was a cakewalk, and then turning East. The wind was against me, but perhaps it was the weight and momentum of the bike or the time I spent down in the drops but the wind didn't seem to slow me down and my average speed bore that out.
I did have a funny moment taking off from the one traffic light on the 8 Mile trail to trail route. I was having trouble getting my foot into the toe clip. I kept rotating the pedal with my right foot but couldn't seem to catch the toe clip. I looked down and realized I never put toe clips on the Rockhopper. I think I might for the warmer months and then take them off in the winter. My feet aren't slipping off the pedals per se, at least not front to back. But the older I get the more splayed and wide my feet sit on the pedals, sometimes half off the outside of the pedals. Perhaps that's why the plastic pedal broke on the Felt last week even though it has toe clips. Also, I do feel I can pedal with a little more abandoned when I don't have to worry about my feet sliding off the pedals. I did have toe clips on the old mountain bike. The rock hopper replaced and they were really only a problem in deeper snow in icy conditions when I would want to ride on the unclipped side and the hanging toe cage would drag in the snow.
