thinking about Early Spring Rides
 

mud, lingering snow & ice, more light, more bird sounds, hooking up the hose again, leaving the bike out overnight, putting on the favorite tires, chucking some of the layers incl. the barmitts

what changes for you when we look forward?

I shudder at the thought.

Dan

hehe radical, I know

I'm looking forward to changing into bike gear being less than a 45 minute process:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...77d6521f4a.jpg

OK this is extreme, I don't need to put on this much for more than a month or two each winter :thumb:

I love when the roads dry out and all the bikes I've cleaned over the winter can get out for a ride, it'll only be another 6-8 weeks before we get there.

:eek:

Ok ... I might be exaggerating ... OTOH we got 4-6 inches fresh snow last night.

trust history

down around here we had a good melt & the "bike bunker" aka tarped, exterior, basement, bulkhead, steps & doors are visible again. wondering how long that will last & if I can start to remove some of the weather barricade I have set up inside, at the bottom of the basement steps. it's been rough bringing the bikes in/out thru the interior steps & up thru the kitchen & patio doors

It's going to be a bad pothole season. Some of them are big, and new ones keep appearing after the road crews have patched some. Be careful around puddles, there might be a bomb crater under it.

Can't wait to pull out a few of the road bike for some spring fun. Looking forward to some dirt trail riding and getting to break-in my new Orbea H30 full suspension.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e42d8623a5.jpg
Traditional road bike.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...03365a8ef3.jpg
The carbon belt drive single speed.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...360cff8b79.jpg
The 1x10 road bike.

This thread reminded me that I don't have any slicks for my touring bike. When I wore the last set out late in the summer I switched to gravel tires. Too big gravel tires that cause problems any time I encounter mud. Had to pull the rear wheel out mid-ride twice last fall. And that reminds me I broke a fender clip last year too which is still being held together with duct tape.

Ice and thin layers of snow on the park trails but very clear on the streets. I just put together a camera mount on my Giant beater mountain bike so now I can stash my winter fat bike away.

I got to take the road bike out yesterday for its third ride of 2022. It was 19F and a west wind at 15-30mph, but roads were dry as there was no melting going on. :)

I was riding this morning and thought man I am taking these stupid studded tires off this weekend.

Next corner giant Ice slick in the road, and another and another. I swear every stupid puddle was ICE after I thought about taking them off. I guess I will wait another week...

slipped & almost fell (but did not) twice this morning on magic ice in the parking lot. too bad my rubber boots don't have retractable skates. would have been safer on studded bike tires
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...52e069fcb3.jpg

the team awaits!

I was able to take my cross bike out on the roads for at least one ride a week this winter. I used Zwift when I couldn’t. I’m beyond the point of being able to follow my little avatar on the screen for group rides or races, so I binged some Netflix or Disney+ series while pedaling indoors, dreaming of spring. Happy to say my Zwift account expired, road bike is off the trainer and I had the official clean up of that area last night. 18C here today, bring it on!

"spring riding" in Minneapolis ... AKA "hold onto your butts!"


It's been great getting out to ride with out 4" studded tires, but it brings some challenges in the places where the glaciers haven't receded yet. (edit/afterthought: and full fenders are a must in the melt season!)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0d0f2df23d.jpg

Frozen slush is so much fun on a fat bike. I'm using my heated gloves more since I took my bar mitts off. Well I've been "using" them all winter, but turning them on more. Easier to have them on and not use the heat, then stop mid-ride to put them on. I made a new power controller so I can run both gloves off a single battery now.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9dbc0d356d.jpg

I know unfrozen slush can be a real challenge for car tires. frozen slush sounds awful. I'd be tempted to cheat a little on those dry sidewalks, but I know any intersections could be killers

glad to see you slow down, didn't want to watch a fall ...

The side roads were a lot worse when I was out this morning. Less frozen slush and more ice, plus deep ruts filled with water. It will only get icier until the melt down is complete, so I'll park the fat bike and switch to the mountain bike. There are a lot of clear roads now, but with the fat bike I deliberately go looking for the snowiest ones.

One annoying thing about early spring rides is having to clean the drive train and disc brakes after every ride. Now that I'll be back on the mtb and encountering more "clear roads" ie: wet and full of residual mud / sand I'll have to use a chemical sprayer full of water after each ride to wash off the gunk.

Agreed! I love getting out in the spring because it’s a positive sign of things to come, but after about half the rides the first thing I do is get out the sprayer and give the bike a cleaning, which is often a shame because on the next ride it may get dirty all over again. But that total experience beats riding indoors, for me, every time

Ah, early spring rides. The city repoured the concrete for this underpass during the winter and it opened this week so I went to check it out. Didn't occur to me that the pavement on both ends wouldn't be finished yet.

The water to the left is a 1.5 foot deep hole which I rode straight into. At the bottom is thick mud that my tire buried itself into so the bike stayed upright on its own when I got off.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c37e4f02e2.jpg

Better be on the road by 11:32am EDT/ 10:32 am EST (15:32 GMT). What could be earlier than that for early spring?

Eid e Nowruz Mubarak