A few thoughts on winter gear

I've been riding with these shoes for the past few days and I am pretty happy so far. The temps haven't been out of control cold, but I do have one ride that was into the upper 20's with a good deal of wind and a bit of water and snow spray coming up from the road. I'm wearing just a thin wool cycling sock (PI Tour Socks) and I think I can go up to a slightly thicker sock and stay comfortable down to 20 degrees, beyond that I think I'll have to through booties on over the shoe- and then they should be super warm. I did make one modification, I put in a piece of plastic between the cleat and the bottom of the shoe to completely cover the holes in the sole for the cleat plate. I'm sure that area is sealed, but water and cold always seem to find ways to get in so why give them easy access?

Now that is keeping my feet warm, I'm also trying to keep the rest of me a bit cleaner, dryer and ultimately warmer. So introduce my newest front fender (I don't know where all the old ones go?), this one is from a large plastic kitty litter container. It works well!

Why a fender? Cuz I don't want all this up in my teeth:

Here is my poor bike in all its dirty splendor. I might try to sneak out on the cross bike for my next ride since I'm mainly on roads and maybe I'll get my average speed up over 10mph!

For night riding I've found that the Knog Frog can attach right to your helmet. These are crazy bright for their size.

That's it from here, tomorrow is a new year- and I'm pretty psyched with that idea! Happy and Safe New Year to everyone and ride on.



late edit: cool idea here
DEA

yup I'm hooked

ok, it's like crack, use it once and want to use it more.

Rode again today.

DEA


PS- did get out to ski today as well, so I do know it's winter!

New Toys and Soon a New Year

My wife led the charge in hooking me up with a new toy for Christmas, a toy I've quitely coveted for a few years now. I think I'm glad that a bit of time had passed as the latest version is just ridiculous in terms of features. What is the new toy? Not this:
That is Dennis's new toy- and yes I now have car envy- but back to me, my new toy- a Garmin Edge 705

This is the craziest piece of electronics I've ever owned. And I've been owning electronics for a day or two. This is on par with when I bought my Commedore 64 back in the early 80's. So needless to say it's cycling season again in my world!

Got out for a ride with Dennis on Sunday, a short gravel grinder. He had a few drive train issues that kept us from climbing too much (see what happens when you grab a geared bike!). This was D before the trouble came:
You will notice he is wearing knickers and not going for the full on winter tights, he's tough. I was in full on snivel gear, and happy I was.

Just to prove I too was on the ride:

Now that you know that we actually rode I can give you the cool map and player that shows where we went, how fast, what the elevation was, how long it took, yada yada yada- this stuff is crazy! Here is the link- when you get to the page you can select the map view (I like the satellite view), and then you can click on the play button to make it all work.

That was my first ride, but I wasn't done. It might be ski season and Shawnee Peak might be tempting me with their lights for night skiing, but I chose instead to go for a night ride. Here was the loop. I will say you may need a bit of patience as the pages can be a bit slow to load.

In other news I also got my first two rides in the new Pearl Izumi winter shoe, so far so good- but I do see myself needing to wear booties in real cold temps. Last night was down to 35 and my feet were fine for out over an hour, but I would guess that at that temp I would start feeling a bit cold at two hours- but we will see.

That's it for now. Home with the kids today and thinking of sneaking out for some turns over at Shawnee Peak.

Ride safe.


DEA

Winter is almost here

Sunday is the Winter Solstice, that will be the "start of winter" but more importantly it will be the shortest day and hence the turning point when days FINALLY start getting longer. That is one tough part of living in a northern clim, the days can get really short. By 4 pm this time of year it is already getting pretty dark. And as I write this at 7:05am the sun is just coming up. It makes for a tough go at staying active when you leave the house in the dark and return in the dark. That being said we are almost at the turning point, can you tell I'm ready for that?

The holidays are almost here, so I'm getting excited for a bit of down time and the chance to get out on the hill with the girls.

The bike- haven't ridden it since that warm night. We're full on back in cold and snow, so soon we'll be heading out for night skiing instead of thinking of the bikes. Of course I'm thinking a great deal about what frames will be on the order form from Salsa. They have a new scandium 29er SS that looks pretty sweet- basically the Mamasita with an EBB. Then there is also the Chilli Con cross bike that is priority one. Time will tell!

Ok enough out of me, I need coffee.

DEA

A night ride

Temps crept up into the 50's yesterday rendering my dreams of getting out for some high speed crust cruising null and void, so I chose instead to grab the bike and lights and headed out for a little over an hour. The funny part was riding around in December, checking out all the holiday lights and being HOT. I didn't think I was over dressed, (on top- long sleeve craft baselayer, craft fleece jersey, sugoi shell) but it wasn't long before the jacket and fleece were unzipped well past the 3/4 mark.

It was a great ride, with only a few surprises. A couple times I found snow and ice in the road when I wasn't quite ready for it- but just as the bike was starting to get away from me I'd end up on clean pavement and it would all come back together.

I'm wondering if that will be the last "warm" ride. Usually this time of year a ride can only last as long as my hands and feet will stay warm- nothing over two hours. We shall see!

I hope everyone is having a good build up to the holidays. I know I need to get shopping here pretty soon!

later,

DEA

Does a bike get lonely?

My bikes are spending their first winter in a space that is unheated. I wonder if they get lonely? They are dry and out of the weather, but have no heat to keep them warm. Do they care? Time will tell.

I have not been on my bike in over a week. That sort of scares me, I need to get out on a ride or set up the trainer. I want to make sure my legs and namely my ass don't forget what riding a bike is all about. Time will tell.

It's warm out right now- hmmm maybe an outdoor ride?

DEA

Its a comin.....

THE FIRST MAJOR WINTER STORM OF THE SEASON WILL DEPOSIT A VARIETY OF PRECIPITATION ACROSS WESTERN MAINE AND MUCH OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW... SLEET... AND FREEZING RAIN ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION.

FREEZING RAIN WILL ACCUMULATE UNTIL MIDDAY FRIDAY OVER MUCH OF THE REGION. SOUTHERN INTERIOR MAINE AND SOUTHEAST INTERIOR NEW HAMPSHIRE WILL SEE A HALF TO ONE INCH OF ICE... ALONG WITH SLEET AND SOME SNOWFALL. THE WEIGHT OF THE ICE WILL BRING DOWN TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES... RESULTING IN POWER OUTAGES. LESS ICE... A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH... WILL ACCUMULATE IN THE FOOTHILLS OF MAINE AS WELL AS WESTERN NEW HAMPSHIRE... WHERE SNOW AND SLEET WILL DOMINATE. ICE ACCRETIONS WILL ALSO APPROACH A HALF INCH ALONG PORTIONS OF THE MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE COASTLINE.

IN ADDITION TO THE ICE... SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE 8 TO 14 INCHES OVER NORTHERN AREAS. ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS OF MAINE... 6 TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE. OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST INTERIOR NEW HAMPSHIRE... 4 TO 8 INCHES SNOW WILL FALL. LIGHTER ACCUMULATIONS... 2 TO 5 INCHES WILL FALL OVER THE CAPITAL REGION OF MAINE... WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES ACCUMULATING OVER FAR SOUTHWEST MAINE AND SOUTHEAST NEW HAMPSHIRE. FINALLY... AN INCH OR TWO SNOW WILL FALL ALONG PORTIONS OF THE MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE COASTLINE.

COASTAL FLOODING WILL OCCUR NEAR THE TIME OF THE MID MORNING HIGH TIDE FROM ABOUT PORTLAND AND POINTS SOUTH ALONG THE COAST.

THE WINTER WEATHER IS DUE TO AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WHICH WILL MOVE UP THE COAST TONIGHT... CROSSING OVER THE MAINE COASTAL WATERS FRIDAY MORNING. WARM AIR POURING IN ALOFT WILL OVERRIDE COLD AIR NEAR THE GROUND. THIS WILL CAUSE THE MIX OF PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE REGION.

Grinder Bust

Saturday morning at 7am, it was cold and lonely. In fact it was so lonely that I opted to get back into bed (where it wasn't so lonely).

Later as the sun came up and the temps reached a balmy 26 degrees I went out for a ride. The gravel was nice, slick in places, but firm and fast (and I was slow and fat). So not much in the way of a group ride, but that will come.

That's about it. Ready to ski. Missed the sprints up at Great Glen- looked like a good turn out.

Time to think skiing!

later

DEA

Gravel Grinder is coming

Saturday, December 6th the Gravel Grinder will take place. The weather looks good- high temp of 35, sun, and a cold night leading into the day means the gravel will be firm and fast (and I'll be slow and fat).

We may negotiate the start time to an 8am start just to better deal with the temps- but we'll see.

Looking forward to this!

later,

DEA

December 1st

The first day of the last month of 2008. Hmmm, can't say I'll be upset when 2008 is behind me! That being said I had a great couple of days as K and I headed over to see PowderJew in Vermont. We hit up Killington for our first turns of the season while PJ hucked steel for a few hours. We then just chilled out in the hot tub and watched HUNDREDS of canadian geese come in and land on the river behind PJ's house. Add to that great food for both dinner and breakfast and it was a good weekend over in the green mountain state.

As far as riding my bike- nothing to speak of since Thanksgiving. It snowed last night, followed by rain so the roads suck at the moment- may be time for the studded tires.

That being said I'm starting to get ready for ski season (after we do the TWAF Holiday Gravel Grinder this weekend)- still looking to be skiing over at Shawnee Peak this winter, so that will be cool to be back at the hill I grew up on. My parents ski there as well (my Dad is there every day, all day) so it will be fun to connect with them on a regular basis.

That's about it at the moment, waiting for my new winter riding shoes to show up- tracking them now- should be here tomorrow. Then at least I'll have toasty feet!

Ok enough out of me- get out and get some fresh air.

later,

dEA