Yah. Nice weather. Two days of riding over the weekend, in the great outdoors. Saturday was a trip up Guys Run with other random hill noodling, and Sunday was Rollercoaster. The last rise on McCully is really steep. I wrote off my difficulty last time to the 39×23 low gear on the Bianchi, but even with the Cannondale’s compact double, it was not at all easy. Neither ride was terribly long, but you’ll have that, and I think my efforts were fairly even. A good sign, methinks.

I’ve been commuting on the Redline, which has gone into Matt Chester mode, with skinny studded tires and flared drops, due to the Nexus shifter on the Novara falling apart last week. I miss the Novara, though, with its full fenders. I’m planning on riding it tomorrow, as I’m tried of spinning, spinning, spinning to work in 32×20 on the Redline. I’m not sure I’ll be able to shift out of the low gear (which is probably just about as spin-y as 32×20), but at least I’ll be dry if it rains.

I did purchase studded tires (Schwalbe Marathon Winters), and their installation coincided, as expected, with this warm spell. If it doesn’t snow ’til next November the tires are completely worth it. If it does, well, the tires will be worth it, though I’ve yet to really test their limits on ice, since I’m usually carrying my laptop.

The warm weather should last long enough to allow a ride on my work-from-home-and-ride-some Friday.

Posted on 9 February 2009