A new LBS for me...
 

I discovered there's an LBS not 2 miles from my place out here in east county, called Inky's. Went there today and bought me a new helmet and now I feel all bikey.

However, their bike stock was considerably different from my old haunts. Mostly BMX and mountain bikes. There were perhaps half a dozen road bikes on the floor.

The salesman said there was little call for road bikes "in these here parts," because of the heat in the summer time.

Got me thinking about my plans for a new road bike. Not sure WHAT it got me thinking, but it definitely got me thinking.

Anyway, the helmet's neat. (He even suggested I choose a white helmet, which would reflect the heat better).

Hmmmm....

Being pretty familiar with the SD CO area, how far east - what town? I'm curious because I see road bikes all over the place - fallbrook, Palomar, Descanso, Pine Valley, Ramona, Julian, etc., etc.

Not that far east. El Cajon / Santee. And many of the towns you've mentioned are actually out in the mountains, about an hour further east. They have their own climate zone as well, and even get snow in the winter time.

I live at the foot of the foothills in Central Valley Cali. June, July and August are often 100+ degrees. Riders tend to get out early in the morning to beat the heat and get better air quality. I wouldn't say people here do less mileage than elsewhere. You just adjust your riding habits. Luckily, we have a dry heat with little humidity. When someone says they were "toast" on a ride, they often sort of mean it. ;)

Anyway, ocean breezes and 80's weather would be sweet, but you'd be surprised what's "do-able" with weather. (You know, that LHT does have 3 bottle mounts...you might use them all!) It'll be fine.

And here I thought you lived on a flyspeck island in the south pacific.

^ +1. Kind of what I thought. I guess I'll have to look it up on Google Maps.


Edit: Must be the one in Ontario and not the one in the South Pacific.

I live in the Arizona desert and there are thousands of road bikes here in the valley. My road bike club has almost 800 members. What is he thinking? We ride all year around here.

Around here the summer heat and humidity feels a lot more intense in the woods on the MTB trails at 5-10 mph than on the road at 15-25.

Heat of the summer? That's when I put the mountain bike away and ride the road bike. 15-20 mph breeze sure beats 5-8 mph breeze. Plus there is not a breeze at all in the woods(here).
What is hot there? Here, the term hot isn't used until it's over 95 ;) . We start a lot of our road rides in the evening over 95 degrees. Seemed like all last summer it was about 97 when we started our rides out.

I like white helmets... :innocent:

I think airflow matters more than helmet color. Two inches of styrofoam pretty much blocks any solar gain. Or is the helmet white to match an upcoming bike?