Thanks, man, thanks. :)

Some rainy days this past week. I just spent an hour trying to get my chain to at least bend again. I ride 8 miles a day on gravel road with a clay binder. Clay, when it dries, is basically unfired pottery. This is what my chain looked like the next morning. It's not easy to see but every gap in the chain was filled with hardened clay.

This happens every time I ride in the rain. I had just cleaned and lubed it 2 days before. The entire chain was seized to where it wouldn't bend enough to get it out through the deraillers. I had to power wash it and hand bend it a bit to get it to bend enough to get it off. I rinsed it in hot water 5 times before the water wasn't instantly black, then soaked it in hot, soapy water for 30 minutes at a time, swapped it out 3 times, then took a toothbrush to it, then rinsed it again in hot running water while flexing each link. Then I soaked it in mineral spirits for 5 minutes and let it dry.

It's not clean, but at least it works.

This is why I go through chains every 1800 miles. I tried expensive chains, they last 1800 miles too. So I now use the cheapest ones Nashbar sells, when they're on sale.
http://www.hauntedfrog.com/gallery2/...1-171828-a.jpg

what kind of tires do you use for that kind of ride?

Nice morning. Was supposed to have been colder per the forecast, but awoke to 51 degree weather. Had to adjust the clothing, had everything set out for the 40'ish in the forecast.

Nice ride in. Always a strong ride on Monday mornings, guess the weekend rest means a lot. Daylight just hitting when I got to the office, that hour change makes a big difference! Supposed to be 60'ish on the ride home if they get that right.

Still decent weather for November, 42 F ( 5 C). I will take as long as it lasts. The sun has been scarce for the last week or so, but they tell us we should be seeing some this week.

Mid 40's, and the traffic was relatively light this morning. Pretty nice day to ride in nice and easy, avg. an easy 12 mph.

I thought it was going to be a great commute this morning. The end of daylights savings meant that my ride was 1 hour brighter, and the sun hadn't quite risen, meaning there was plenty of light, but no glare in my east-bound ride. The temp was about 47 degrees, so I was happy. However, a busy highway on-ramp near my work was closed, making about a thousand drivers very unhappy and forcing them to follow a detour. My work and route happened to be along the detour, which means I was buzzed, honked at and nearly run off the road a few times as people scrambled to get to work. *******s. I was riding here last week, before you got your panties all bunched up.

First commute after 2 weeks of vacation. (Belgium & Netherlands. Awed by bicycling situation in Amsterdam... Wow.)

So, today: 31 degrees, sunny. No wind. Uneventful.

Nothing special when it's warm. Traction is not an issue, and other than a million potholes per mile, if you can steer between them, the road is reasonably smooth - rocks get pushed down into the clay layer. When it's dry, it's the next best thing to pavement other than a constant, slight washboarding (caused by cars with bad shocks and the fact that everyone wants to drive 60 MPH on gravel).

This year I've been running Schwalbe Marathon 32s. In the winter, since you can't use salt on gravel roads, this part of my ride quickly becomes a solid hardpack snow surface, essentially ice, and studs are REQUIRED since this area is also hilly - even with studs, my rear tire slips a quarter turn or so on every stroke. My preferred tire is a Nokian W106, though last year I bought Marathon Winters. I don't like the Winters, but I'll ride them until they wear out then replace them with more Nokians.

Nice ride this morning. I got out at 5:25, so even with daylight saving time ending, I still got to work an hour before sunrise. 32*F and a nice dry ride this morning with not too much traffic.

Cold!! I know 49 isn't cold to many of you, but I was freezing! Time to pull out the thick wool socks, the face mask and heavy coat- yuck! I wore wool socks and a wool base layer today, but needed more. I hate being cold but it still felt great to ride today, just started riding again the middle of last week after a couple of weeks off getting ready for and recovering from my half ironman.

Very pleasant ride this morning.
It was brisk and sunny.
I took my left pedal apart last night and cleaned the bearings and added new grease. It was smooth as butter this morning and the weird little click that was happening had vanished. It's fun to tinker and successfully problem solve.

Got my new Magicshine light in the mail on Friday so I was anxious to use it this morning.

No more DST so it was light when I left this morning. I turned it on anyway. :D

Low 50s... I wore shorts on the bottom, a base layer and nylon windbreaker on top. It was almost, but not quite, too cold for that. Having the sun again in the mornings lifts the spirits.

Back in the Saddle
 

Monday 11-2-2009 - Got back on the bike after my accident 2 weeks ago. I put my backpack on carrying my clothes to change once I was in to work.

I felt some pain on my left shoulder but nothing I counldn't handle. It was a bit chilly but knew I would warm up once I got going. I was a little fearfiul getting back on the road.

I prepared for it. I added a red blinker to my seat post, and as usual had my front white blinker in the front and another attached to my pack back. I also have a reflective belt wrapped around my back pack.I wore my new helmet, red and white/w gray. It matches my bike.

I also took charge of my lane as I rode, which if I could of change anything from the accident I would be of taken the lane better.

FROZE: You were right. I was tired, biking in. My cadence was way off. I already was slacking off before the accident. I was getting back to training but my accident set me back.
So I was coasting more than pedaling. I felt uncomfotable and just wanted to go back to bed. haha. :cry:

But I have a new resolve. I will get back and even be better in my conditioning. I'm interested in cyclocross for next year and also a sprint triathlon or dualthlon. :) I have long ways to go but today was my starting point.

Picture of my new helmet, Bell. I wanted a Giro helmet but they only had it in black, in price rage I was sticking too. This one was $40.

The picture of my helmet is from my cubical today.

40F and foggy

As so often happens here in the cooler months it was warmer when I left at 5:35 than it was 22 miles later at 6:55, from 42F to 34F. Had a nice tailwind for a while. First ride since the massive snowstorm we had in Denver last week. Just had to walk across a short ice and snow covered bridge, pretty clear otherwise thanks to all of the sunshine we've had since Friday. Today will be the first time I've gone home in complete darkness for many years when I leave work at 5:30. Used to be able to leave at 4:00 but have since gone to 10 hour work days. Temps should be about the same. Looking forward to it :thumb:

Very nice morning..62 F and low humidity..woot. Uneventful ride which is always nice.

Seemed later than usual. Riding in the twilight, rather than the pitch black.

Mid 40's F and dry.

Couldn't find my pump, couldn't find my blinkie. Then I noticed the empty hook where my wife's hybrid was supposed to be hanging. Suddenly it dawned on me that our garage had been burgled.

Crap. On the bright side, they didn't take any of my bikes, not even my carbon Bianchi.

But dammit!

that sucks....having been through similar recently (whole house burglarized), I feel your pain. Thank God they didn't touch the Bianchi.

Didn't change my wheels back to slicks, too lazt this weeekend and figure dI'd just ride the knobbies in. That was annoying, but a better work out.

Forgot my water bottle, so now I have a headache and need to hydrate.

Forgot the keys to my classroom so I had to have security let me in and I'm semi-trapped here and can't come and go as I please..

Oh well, must have been the time change.

Riding in with the sun was nice.

Good for you 777. Glad to hear you're back on two wheels ... not sure I could have done it, or at least not so quickly.

Basic ride this morning. Coldish. Drove most of last week due to snow. Day light savings change depresses me, as someone who comes and goes to work on the late side. But I'm planning to give genuine night riding a try, perhaps with a route modification, a new lamp and some winter tires.

Back on the bike, despite being a little groggy after the flu. Nice warm weather. Ahhhh!

Very nice. Littele overdressed.

Was on training last week so had to take the subway. Finally got to ride in again. Pretty rough ride in due to strong NW winds here in NYC, my entire commute is going N and W. Should make for an easier ride home.

good to know, i have some nasty roads this winter and i am shopping around. everyone around here really talk up schwable and nokian... think i should learn from their wisdom :)

It's beautiful out there today: sunny and 70! I took a half really sick/half mental-health day today, so instead of my normal mixed bike-and-bus commute I got the pleasure of riding to my neighborhood farmers' market and back (which, thanks to the new bike computer I put on, is 6.2 miles round trip at an average speed 13.8 mph). Tomorrow is back to the grind.

-blissfish

Nice Day and my LAKE Winter Boots came today
 

High 40's for the night shift to ride in on. Lots of sun. Wife called and the UPS guy came with my winter shoes. It is be low 30's to high 20's by Wednesday and I will be glad to try them. :)