Feh, icy weather the last few days, so I bailed. I went to re-mount my Nokians, noticed that the studs on the back were getting pretty screwed up (turned sideways) and while straightening them with pliers I noticed that the tread blocks were separating from the plys underneath. I didn't fancy a blowout so I'm driving until Monday when it's supposed to be warm again.

New studs ordered, I'm going for W240s instead of W106s this time.

Almost hit a huge racoon this morning, he scared the bejeebus out of me. Working on building my dynohub wheel so I can ditch my batteries. Hopefully it'll be done by next week!

Nice and sunny this morning, but temps in the mid 30s, and I've lost my beanie. Wasn't cold enough to bring out the Balaclava, so I just toughed it out w/ slightly chilly ears and scalp for the first 10 minutes. Gives my cheeks that nice, ruddy glow... not those... stop checking out my butt!

Nothing special about the ride. Amazing how 10 degrees colder means 1/2 as many cyclists (and runners). But tourist season is going strong, with folks all over the monuments. I think it might be time to find a route that misses the major tourist destinations.

Thanks for the advice -- I will add some plastic bags to my 'gear' bag just in case. I don't ride in rain much, but it is nice to know that if I must, I can.

Given their attitudes, I would say do it this way - it might not help anything, but there's some satisfaction as the labor probably comes out of the shop's profit. I'm a mean one!

35f Wet, not much wind overall a pretty fast ride in, I didn't have to come to a stop at all my whole ride in which was nice.

I'm not as tough as the Capt! Balaclava was out aloong with my tights and thicker gloves. I'm ready for spring.

But a nice ride regardless: just above freezing with little headwind.

I was periodically getting a ping / clunk noise when the freehub engaged during yesterday afternoon's ride home, so I took the bike in for a complementary spring tune up and to have the freehub looked at. The same guy changed his tune saying there is probably nothing wrong with it, but if there was they'd have to send the part to Shimano for verification before they'd warranty it. If they don't find anything wrong with it, I'll just flush it out this weekend and use some cold weather grease. It doesn't look like a very difficult job.

It seems odd that bike manufacturers like Trek in this case, don't offer comprehensive warranties on their bikes. If you have to go to each individual component maker for warranty issues, you might as well just build the bike yourself.

The other LBS in town is more of family afair and much more friendly. Any one of their mechanics probably has more years experience than the majority of the other shop combined does. Basically I'm saying the other shop is full of old guys ;) .

For the commute this morning I got off to slow start. I forget to take the lighting off the other bike, so I had to dig out and install my ancient (15 year old) rear flasher and rode without a headlight. I've had headwinds in the morning all week long.

35F, sunny, clammy

first day on new torker graduate. I never checked the seat height after my test ride last weekend, I just assumed it was my bike in the shop and no one else would ride it, but I didn't pick it up till last night. big mistake. And no tools. And running late. So I rode in with the seat about 3 inches too low.

In spite of that, I was blown away by the difference between the Graduate and the Schwinn gateway in handling and speed. I got the graduate for low maintenance and durability. I hadn't expected it to ride a lot better though. So far very happy with it, but I can already tell that heel strike might be a problem when I unfold the rear wald baskets on the delta rack. That might change a bit when the seat goes up, it is going to be close, there is still some room for adjustment.

28F but felt more like 45F, sunshine and no wind. I left to late to get scalped by the usual MUP riders.

Yeah another day on metro here. Sure sucks! Hybrid dead.

LHT frame shipped from QBP warehouse on west coast yesterday per LBS. Should be in Tuesday or Wednesday. This is order attempt #3. First frame they received was a 58 cm frame. Second was the 56 cm size but 26" wheels not 700. Not sure who keeps messing up the order (shop or QBP) but this frame order ordeal better be over come next week. Anything more than another week on metro is gonna drive me bonkers.

UPDATE: Just got an e-mail from the LBS. They want to throw in a complimentary Brooks saddle for all the troubles. Maybe I'm just cheaply bought off, but this is a classy act that really goes a long way to redeeming them in my eyes. Kudos LBS. Best thing is a Brooks was on my eventual upgrade list already! :)

Crashed.....hit a patch of ice and the bike went out from underneath me. Wasn't it 70 degrees a few days ago?

Excellent commutes today. 30F and sunny with winds from the NW @ 5mph for the ride in. 39F and sunny with winds from the WNW @ 15mph (gusting to 25mph at times) this afternoon for the ride home. I flew on the way home this afternoon, which is actually the fastest I've done for the commute home this semester. I think the wind and trying the different roads helped me with that. In other news, I did a total of 158.2 miles for cycle commuting this week.

wouldn't have ridden at all today, got a cold all the sudden.

but i had appointments all over town, racked up about 30miles after all.

not fun riding while sick :(
plus side, it was sunny

Sorry to hear it, man... hope you weren't banged up too much.

Ride home today was nice, though windy. Only averaged 11.5 MPH and stayed in the middle ring most of the way.

I have had this once, one freehub only. One idea that was suggested to me, as a "get you home" thing, was to find a bush to hide behind and pee on it. I have never tried this. The only time it stuck was when it had been in the garage overnight at below-25C. A preventative would be to bring the bike inside overnight when serious cold conditions are forecast. Morningstar tools have a device that makes changing the grease a lot easier.

Got the bike back from the LBS today. The work ticket didn't have anything written on it indicating what they did and there wasn't anyone around to talk to. I decided to pull the rear hub apart for a cleaning / regrease. Instead of flushing the freehub, I just pulled the seal and added some synthetic 0W30 motor oil which stays very runny at low temperatures. I really hate trying to get hubs re-tightened properly. This Deore LX hub with a rubber boot was even more trouble than I usually had with the older hubs I overhauled last year.

After the wheel was reinstalled I could hear the click of the pawls only through part of a wheel rotation. I would have figured the oil would have distributed itself leading to a similar noise through the whole rotation. Maybe it'll work itself in after some riding.

It warmed up to freezing and the main roads are clear so took the Trek down to the shop and back... was very nice to get out on some skinnier faster tyres and since it was quiet at the co-op I repacked the bearings in my pedals, swapped in a lower granny gear, and rebuilt my rear wheel with stiffer stronger spokes.

It looks like it is going to be a nice week with above freezing daytime temps.

Sometimes the friendly old guys know a little more about these things and some of them ride all winter so know what you are talking about.

Servicing the freehub is not that hard and it is probably a matter of replacing the stock grease with synthetic as this will not freeze up on you when it gets cold... the only time the freehub on my extra bike has ever gotten cranky was at -46C.

For winter riding Shimano's silent clutch hubs are wonderful as they have no pawls and are resistant to the most extreme temperatures.

very cautious ride to work this morning (minor surgery last Thursday). Good to be back on the bike though :-)

I ment to post up last week, but, Wendsday on my way home I passed a woman who was talking on a cell phone, smoking a cigeratte and drinking a beer.... I really wanted to stop for a picture, but was just a little too chicken :-)

scoTt

Still Cold at 25 F (-4 C). Spring seems to be stalled somewhere. Lots of chances for rain and snow this week, so it will be just another wet riding week, of which there have been too many already.

cold knees! cold knees! cold knees! Yeah spring where are you? I guess the shorts thing was not a bright idea.

Just above freezing, slight headwind. Took advantage of my REI dividend to get a new helmet and rearview mirror for my handlebars, that mirror is amaziing...also kinda scary to see all that traffic back there.

I did have one short bike commute this weekend, to the National Marrathon. Not so easy to ride home after that!

Ride in was nice... weather said it would rain, but it was clear as a bell. 68 degrees and no fog, I loved it. Won't be long before my morning commute will be in the 80's.

A balmy 47 this morning, which is a great temp to ride. Mid 60s for the ride home. Negligible wind both ways. So I got that goin' for me.

35f wet, sprinkling, not a bad morning but I want the weather to get nice so I can finish the kuwie and get back on her.

-11C and a solid 30km/h headwind this morning. The morning headwinds for the past week have been more of a problem for my feet than anything else. There was quite a bit of light for most of my ride, with the sun coming up just as I got to the university. I see a lot of riding directly into the sun in the coming weeks.