October rides: put a little color into it.

[north woods gal]

Well, it is October and, for us, the leaf colors are coming on strong. Have already had to clean off the leaf litter on my trails and lots more that to come.

Been doing my usual everyday ride routine of 5 miles on our lovely neighborhood roads with the hubby, then following that up with some trail riding and/or more road riding on my own. Then, too, I sometimes put an hour or two into doing trail maintenance or improvement work. Oh, yeah, this gal is pretty tired at the end of the day, but a good kind of tired.

As always, lots of wildlife. Interesting incident, today. Around dinner, the dogs were raising a ruckus around the wood pile, trying to tear it down. They had something cornered. We finally got them away from the woodpile to see what they had trapped. Turns out to be an Ermine (used to be called the Short-tailed Weasel). These are the ones that turn white in the winter and are common, up here in the north woods. Unfortunately, the little guy was in bad shape. I think a log fell on it. Nevertheless, we took him out in the woods, away from the house with the hopes he might survive. Not looking good, but we tried.

[Crankin]

Starting to see some colors here, mostly the bright red sugar maples. Quite late this year. But, our peak is not until near the end of October.
Had rain and raw drizzle all day. I forced myself to get up and go to spin class this morning before work. So humid out, it just seeps in that room, even with the AC and fans. It's the first one hour spin class I've done since last April. When I've gone to that class on Wednesdays if it's raining, it's only 30 minutes. I feel so bored, but I certainly feel like I've worked.
Tomorrow I plan to go on a group ride that starts at a Bonsai place and goes on roads I have not ridden in awhile. I've driven by the Bonsai place, oh, like 5,000 times in the past 28 years, and I have been wanting to do this ride for at least 5 years, because afterwards we eat lunch there and get a tour.

[north woods gal]

We had thunderstorms, all night and are forecast to get strong storms all day, today, and tonight. Not sure what I'll get done as far as riding, but for sure, I won't head out far from home. Don't mind riding in the rain - up to a point - but heavy rain and, especially, lightning scares the heck out of me. Have had to do it out of necessity, but no way will I do it when I have a choice. May just settle for some trail work or a short trail ride. I can't stand spending the whole day, inside. Yuk!

Crankin, that sounds interesting, for sure. Love our very rural setting, here, and all our roads are beautiful, but not much in the way of places to stop and eat or get coffee or shop and so on. That's the part I do miss from my Chicago and Portland days.

Whoa! That's a tough one, Sheila, but I do understand about taking down trees around the house for the sake of safety and damage to the house. We had to do the same when we first moved in, up here, but time to remove a few more, now that they're getting old.

[Crankin]

Sigh, another ride thwarted, mainly by weather. At 7:30 we got an email from the leader giving the encouraging forecast, 61 at 10 am, with .1% chance of rain. It had rained all night, the roads were wet and it was 51 degrees at that time. I got ready, put air in my tires and loaded my bike in my car. The start was about 8-9 miles away. When I went outside at 8:15, I felt freezing. I had my knickers on, a LS regular jersey, and my vest. Wool socks. Came back in and put on a sleeveless base layer, as I am sick of feeling overheated on rides! Since we needed money to pay for the lunch ahead of time, I had to leave early. So, at 9, I went to my bank branch ATM, that is maybe 5 miles from my house. On the way over, I noticed my windshield getting wet, thinking it was road spray. Had to put my wipers on. Got out of my car and said "Oh sh!t." It was raining. Lightly, but raining, and 53 degrees. I got my $, hung out for about 5 minutes, and said that's it. I went home.
I think I made the right choice for me. It clearly was raining more west of my house, but it continued drizzling until about 11 am even here, and the ride started at 10. If I had had my rain jacket, I would have gone, but it felt raw and cold, and that, mixed with wet, is a recipe for hypothermia. Also did not have a head cover. Truthfully, I had a ton of work to do and felt relieved. I did my work, ate lunch, and went out for a very short 35 minute ride at 12:45. My legs felt dead from yesterday's spin, and my average was a good deal lower than my last rides. It was hilly, so despite being short, I felt like I worked hard. I went out and went food shopping afterwards, did a bunch of other chores, as we have a really busy weekend. I don't have work Monday (Columbus Day). Granddaughter coming Friday, sleeping over, and as soon as she get s picked up at 9 am, we head to our friends in western MA for 2 days of riding and maybe a hike. Monday, we are celebrating my son's 36th birthday, at dinner, so I have to make him a cake, but I will probably be able to do a longer ride in the morning. Weather is going to be summer-fall-summer for the next few days. I would prefer to keep the fall!

[north woods gal]

Drizzle or even light rain I can take - if i dress for it and if I'm in the mood. Of course, I have the luxury of staying close to home and doing all the biking I want, so I can deal with rain a bit easier than most. Today was a good example. Woke up to a light rain, mist and fog, but it stopped mid-morning, so hubby and I did our neighborhood ride, then I did a full 5 miles of laps on our wet trails, then followed that up with a couple hours of hard work on the trails, clearing roots and rocks off the trails that might be a safety issue when riding the standard tire MTBs. Grueling work, but I get a smoother and safer trail doing it.

With our wet trails the last couple days, I've been riding the Krampus with its "low fat" (3") tires. :) Have rekindled an appreciation for this bike, now that I've put those wider tires to good use on our wet trails (now covered with wet leaves in places). The Krampus is no race bike, but it is solid, stable and, especially, safe when conditions aren't the best. I did get the gearing right on this one, too, for my trails. It can be a little tricky matching the gear combo on a single speed to where you plan to ride the bike. All in all, the Krampus is a very useful single speed in my growing collection of single sped bikes.

Nasty storms with heavy rain and a lot of lightning moved in, this afternoon, just as I finished with the trail work. More to come, tonight and tomorrow, so the Krampus will probably be put to work, again. Could ride one of the regular fat bikes, too, but I'm kind of hooked on riding single speed.

[ny biker]

It's been summerlike all week and I love it.

I rode last night after work, about 18 miles. My speed was very slow and I'm not sure why. I was in a bad mood all day and had to stop several times because the chain was making a weird noise. I couldn't figure out why. I have had problems ever since the bike shop guy replaced it a few months ago. Anyway it seemed to shift okay last night, it just didn't sound right. There was more traffic than usual which did not help my mood, and one driver in particular was a total jerk, honking and passing close while I was making a left turn. Overall not the best ride.

I'm planning to lead a ride on Sunday. It's supposed to be sunny and in the 80s. No complaints from me!

[Crankin]

So beautiful out this morning, when I went to the gym. 57 degrees and dry/clear. Two days of this, and then some of the same (but cooler) warmth that NY is getting on Sunday.
So, last week I signed up to join a meet up group called Metrowest Active Retirees (or not). I am trying to branch out, in preparation for retirement, still a couple of years off. But, I haven't had a great track record of going on group rides with my Wednesday group this season (4, maybe) and I've only led 2 rides for AMC and gone on one other local one, and 3 AMC rides out in western MA, which of course, are led by my friends. Signed up for a ride on 10/17, in a very hilly ride west of here, only 19 miles. First, I was put on a wait list; I questioned the restriction on size, stating I was not familiar with Meet Up ways... one of the participants gave me her spot, saying she "had to practice going up inclines." She seemed to be a younger person, as the group is basically open to anyone who can do stuff during the week. We shall see. The stated average is right in my ballpark, but a few years ago, we had AMC leaders cross posting our big event rides on Meet Up, leading to people attending who just didn't have the skills or proper bikes for riding in a hilly area. I had a woman fall over and bleed profusely before my ride even started! We ended that practice. Anyway, I would rather be slowed down than dropped, and hopefully, I will find new people to play with.

[north woods gal]

If what we get, up here, is a taste of what you folks to the east and south will be getting, you better enjoy that nice weather while you can. :)

Had some really nasty storms, the night before last, but yesterday, the sun came out after a very cold night in the 30s and dried things up a bit. We had errands in town, so we didn't get around to doing our usual neighborhood ride till late afternoon. That's probably a good thing, though, since things had dried out a bit. I then grabbed the Log Lady and did a full 5 miles of laps on my trails. The leaves were dry enough, so no traction issues at all, and, of course, the Log Lady is a race bike and a really, really fun to ride trail bike. Maybe too fun, though, in that it might tempt me to ride it when trail conditions call for a fat or a plus bike to be safe.

More rain, last night and, again, very cold temps, though just warm enough to avoid having it turn to snow. Rain and cold, today, too, so it may turn out to be one of those indoor riding days for me. I hope not. Yuk!

Our trees are at about max color, now. Lots of leaves falling, too. Big job ahead clearing my trails.

[ny biker]

It's been summerlike all week and I love it.

I rode last night after work, about 18 miles. My speed was very slow and I'm not sure why. I was in a bad mood all day and had to stop several times because the chain was making a weird noise. I couldn't figure out why. I have had problems ever since the bike shop guy replaced it a few months ago. Anyway it seemed to shift okay last night, it just didn't sound right. There was more traffic than usual which did not help my mood, and one driver in particular was a total jerk, honking and passing close while I was making a left turn. Overall not the best ride.

I'm planning to lead a ride on Sunday. It's supposed to be sunny and in the 80s. No complaints from me!

I just cleaned the chain, and I think I know the cause of the weird noise. There are rough edges on numerous links, no doubt as a result of being jammed between the cassette and the spokes last Sunday. Most of the nicked up parts are on the outer edge, but some are on the other side which comes in contact with the cogs. So it looks like a(nother) new chain is in my future, even though this one is only a few months old. I was planning to go to the bike shop tomorrow anyway, to get a closer look at the Checkpoint gravel bike.

I have ordered the hybrid from the rewards company, and have been contacted by their supplier (a bike shop in Connecticut) about frame size. I told them I was planning to trade the bike in toward a different one, and they offered to handle the trade up for me. I appreciate the offer, but want to do it through my LBS for several reasons. I also sent an email to my bike club offering the hybrid for sale. I don't want to deal with Craig's list and don't think I'd have success trying to sell there based on the prices of bikes currently listed there. If no one from the bike club wants it I will do the trade-in at the LBS.

[north woods gal]

Good luck on your bike swap/trade, N.Y. and let us know how it works out. I get it about wanting to handle things through your local shop with folks you know and trust.

We are in one of our yucky weather patterns and probably will be for another week. Yup, cloudy, dark, cold with a little rain or drizzle, here and there. Anything but great riding weather, but, as usual, we ride, anyway. Did our usual neighborhood ride, yesterday, in drizzle and light rain. (Our neighbors must think we're nuts and they may be right. :)) I finished with a good long hour workout on our wet and, slippery with leaves, trails. All riding was with my aluminum Norco fat bike for the sake of safety and also to avoid getting my steel bikes soaked.

Out on the road with the fat bike, I could just barely keep up with my hubby on his fat bike. Looks like I need to do more fat bike riding out on the roads, since I plan to get though our winter and all the snow by riding the fat bikes mostly on the roads. I'm really bummed out about this upcoming winter, though, now that I've developed an addiction to my much faster and lighter single speeds. Not sure how I will handle it all. Quite a change for me, because I'm usually optimistic or at least neutral about winter. For the first time in years, I'm wishing I lived in a place where I could ride regular bikes in the winter. This is depressing.

There's such an amazing difference with the faster and lighter bikes, though, and that's the problem. I can ride the Gunnar or the Log lady on our neighborhood rides and make my hubby look slow on his fat bike. I end up waiting for him at the top of every hill. About the only thing the Gunnar and the LL have in common with the fat bikes is that they both have wheels. :)

[ny biker]

Fat bikes might not be your preference, but put them next to the indoor trainer and they might look pretty good. Maybe once the weather really goes downhill the fat bikes will feel more fun to ride.

[north woods gal]

You're right, of course. Ride the fat bike outdoors, even in the snow, or ride the trainer indoors? The fat bike wins every time. :)

Another dreary day, weather wise, but the woods are so beautiful in all their color. Just a treat to be outdoors, no matter what the weather. Did 13 miles of pavement on the Gunnar, then finished up with another 4 on the trails, doing laps with the Log Lady. Found a couple of problem spots on the trail, so did do some repair work, afterwards.

[Crankin]

What a weekend.
We left for the Pioneer Valley around 10:30, delayed about half an hr, because DH discovered my GPS was again not working. Got to our friends' house and we ate lunch, and debated about our choice of activity. It was 58 degrees (not really cold), but raw and windy. We decided to hike yesterday and ride today. So, off we went to the Holyoke Range, with the 7 sisters peaks. We did 2 peaks, very strenuous, my short little legs requiring me to scramble, using my upper body. When we started, we were going to take a trail a little different than the one we actually took, to descend, as our original choice would have meant a 6 hour hike, and it was already 3 pm. So, we started down. It was not really steep or technical, but covered with small rocks. I was moving at a good clip and I must have tripped on a rock. Not only did I go down, but I rolled a bit. I thought I would stop, but the last little bit of the roll, got the bottom of my knee/top of my tibia, on the same side where I had my bike crash. And I had a cut on my other arm. I knew nothing was broken, but my leg hurt and I felt a bit woozy. So, after sitting for awhile, we continued, I used a stick DH found to use to help me balance. I could see that the rocks were kind of wet, probably the reason I tripped. After about another mile or so of this descent, we got to the flat part of the trail. Very muddy, with stream crossings. I picked up the pace and was fine, although I knew my leg was stiffening. We had to walk out on the road for the last mile, which made it worse, as it was uphill. But, we got back to the house and I cleaned up, iced my leg, where I discovered it is just below my knee, and it's just stiff. The bruising is minimal compared to my bike crash. I didn't have my Arnica with me, so my arm is bruised, but the cuts are minimal, too, with Bacitracin.
Had a crappy night's sleep, after a fun evening though, of food and wine. The day dawned cloudy, humid and already 65 degrees. I had no idea how I would do, but we set out around 10:45, already 73 degrees. I felt crappy, but it mostly from too much wine and not enough sleep. I got over it, though and we had a lovely ride from Whately, to historic Old Deerfield, where we stopped and ate a snack. Farms, hills, and rivers were the theme of the day, and we rode just under 30 miles. Thankfully, the sun stayed in, until we got back. We showered, and the 4 of us headed out for a late lunch, and then we headed home.
Now resting on the couch, used my Arnica, and iced my leg. I have tomorrow off and all I am going to do is ride to a new gourmet farm market, around 10 miles round trip.

[north woods gal]

Ouch, girl! And here I thought hiking was safer than riding. Seriously, though, glad you survived it and were able to ride, the next day. Good for you.

Heavy duty trail work for me, today. Decided to do my first clearing of all the leaves and litter on the trails using a leaf blower. Not crazy about going with that kind of tool, but it allowed me to to do a full day's work or even more with a rake in a matter of a little over an hour. Still a lot of work. Of course, clearing the trails also revealed a lot of dangerous rocks and roots I hadn't noticed, before, so had to grab the axe and shovel, and go to work, next. Really kind of scared me to see some of those hazards I hand't seen, before, on trails that I had been riding hard and fast. Some could have flipped me. Not good.

Three days of rain in the forecast, so not sure how much riding I'll be dong.

[Crankin]

That sounds terrible, Sheila! Have you had migraines for a long time?

Yes, hiking in the northeast is almost as difficult as mountain biking. In fact, when we got to the flat part of the trail, we could see bike tire tracks, which was upsetting, since it was so wet, and it's just not good for the environment to do that. Yet, while hiking we saw so many people out there, like it was a walking the park, wearing regular sneakers or Tevas, definitely not in hiking clothes. My hiking knickers save me from having worse injury!

[Crankin]

Definitely get that checked out, to eliminate medical causes. Dental things cause a lot of misery. I have decent dental insurance, but it still doesn't pay for things like implants or very much for crowns, etc. Thankfully, I haven't had much dental work in my life. But, my jaw/bite/TMJ has not been the same since I had a bike crash in Spain last year. I didn't get injured, but what started as a massive headache, settled in my teeth, and then became a weird clicking. My dentist told me a crash couldn't cause this, but I don't believe him. No pain now, just a weird bite and clicking.

Are you getting ready for another hurricane?

[north woods gal]

Sheila, OMG, get that checked, right away. Can't begin to tell you how sorry I feel that this sort of thing has happened to you. You are in my prayers, girl. Please keep us posted.

Steady light rain and drizzle, when we woke up, this morning. Not sure how much riding I'll do, but I suspect everyone knows by now, that, yeah, I'll go riding, anyway, so might as well not even bother to question it. May even do a little trail work, too. My trails, little by little, are becoming smoother and and hazard free. By the time I'm done, I could probably ride them with a road bike. Yeah, before my accident I would describe this as making my trails more boring and dull, but funny how an accident can change your outlook on things. The important thing for me is that my trails remain the same as far as my physical exertion and conditioning needed, but they are now safer to ride and a bit more comfortable, too.

[emily_in_nc]

Sheila, ugh! I hope it's nothing serious. Please report back. Crankin, sorry you fell. I have fallen when hiking before too. No fun, but glad you weren't seriously injured.

I haven't been able to ride at all as our bikes are all taken apart. DH had to partially disassemble them to get the rental car packed with all our bikes + other things we'll be storing at my mother's while we're in Mexico. So, we didn't even bring our bike shoes up since the car was literally too full for another thing, and we're taking our bike shoes to Mexico. The neighborhood we're staying in in a very nice Airbnb house is VERY hilly, so cycling would have been an interesting challenge after Florida, if we'd been able to.

Car before unloading!
18356

Looks like the Orlando area (where our motorhome is) will not have any significant issues from Hurricane Michael. In fact, western NC will be worse, but mostly just rain by the time it gets here on Thursday. Too bad, though, because we're heading up to my folks' mountain vacation home for a few days, and it sounds like we won't see the sun at all. It's too early for good foliage there, but it is a fun family time, and my brother and I enjoy catching up and hiking, since it's usually the only time I get to see him all year. I'm sure we'll still be able to hike some, but I'd hoped for bright blue skies. At least it isn't supposed to get cold until Michael is past.

[Crankin]

That sounds lovely, Emily. When are you leaving for Mexico? I forget.
I had a nice recovery ride to check out the new gourmet market on the other side of town. I was looking for some failed birthday cake replacements for tonight; I tried making a vegan pound cake with a frosting and it was a disaster, I think because the measurements were translated from metric. Luckily I have 3 frozen pieces of left over vegan chocolate cake (granddaughter is allergic to dairy AND eggs, DIL is vegan), so after I saw the new place didn't really have anything my son would like, I rode back to West Concord and stopped at another bakery where I bought 2 huge triple chocolate brownies for DH and my son. Of course, when I went out to unlock my bike, it was drizzling. I was wearing regular clothes, well, some wicking clothes that are nice enough to wear to work, and I did not want to have to change. Thankfully it stayed a drizzle, was starting to feel wet in the 2 mile ride home and I did not have to change. I had to quickly eat, go to the next town in my car to get a present for my son, come back, and make the dinner. If it had been nice out, I might have ridden to TJ Maxx to get the gift, but I was not prepared for rain.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds lovely, Emily. When are you leaving for Mexico? I forget.

November 1. Can't wait as cold weather is coming here to NC by the end of the week (after Michael). I had to dig out some fall clothes in the vaccuum bags we have stored under my mother's guest bed so I'd have something to wear -- have worn nothing but shorts and t-shirts or tank tops in months. We leave to drive back to Florida on Monday, so we'll be back in the heat, but only for 1.5 weeks before we leave for good. Excited!

[rebeccaC]

as others i do hope it's nothing serious sheila!!!!!!......i wanna move to mexico!!!!!!!!

The Eastern Sierra’s have some of the most wonderful climbs I’ve ever done. Beautiful on-coming scenery also helps to calm me on a hard climb and gives a good excuse to sit and meditate into the view. If it was my last solo climbing ride I’d want it to be in the Eastern Sierra’s. The ride was 13 miles up Onion valley rd. out of Independence Ca. It’s just north of the Whitney Portal rd that I wrote about in the Jan thread and is similar but I went higher on this ride.
Temps were kind, even a passing light shower helped in refreshing me when I needed it most during steep switchbacks towards the top. Riding off the valley floor isn’t eventful or that scenic so counting expansion joints mindfulness ftw. The descent was worrying but i stopped a lot for photography, so that made it wonderful!!!
….and in-between were cloud covered mountains, the beginning of stain glassed woods, just being immersed in the beauty of the environment and being completely present….good for my urban soul.

This limited time in life to do things just isn’t nice!!!!! Just pilates, yoga and commutes for awhile and into the near future for me. The commutes have provided many good moments of just moving through the morning light and starting a productive work day in a good mood and when needed on the way home the exercise of some intervals to keep work from home and Alex. Not even commutes for awhile though as i want to be able to get to Alex as soon as possible since she’s in her last month……

going down a different but wonderful road

some photos of the ride

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1925/45124781772_f36fcd3495_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bKwiuQ)


https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1969/43359520340_b2a2540c9a_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/294wSLU)


https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1943/45124780442_8ac56865c0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bKwi6U)

[north woods gal]

Is that blue sky I see peeking out of the clouds, Rebecca? If so, send some my way. Haven't had a sunny day for well over a week, now.

In fact, got so frustrated I just threw on a raincoat and rode in the rain, this morning. And most of those rainy 24 miles (21.5 of them, in fact) were on this one.
https://i.postimg.cc/CKCPKDc6/P1100183.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Yup, got a call, late yesterday, that my new All City Nature By was ready. By the time I got home and changed the saddle, added a computer, handlebar bag, water bottle cage and made some fit adjustments, it was too late in the day to ride and, it was also raining, too. Surprise, surprise.

Had the shop do some mods for me on the Nature Boy to better suit my riding. First thing was to change it from a drop bar to a flat bar, since all my other bikes are flat bar. This is easily done, since All City uses the same frame for their drop bar bikes and flat bar bikes. Did take a MUCH shorter stem to get it done, but works, great. Next up was to go with different tires than the 700x33 stock tires. I went with 700x38 Panaracer Gravel Kings, set up tubeless, both for comfort and safety on rough or gravel strewn roads. Lastly, was to change the gearing to match what I wanted for my area roads that I would be riding.

So how did it ride? Looks like I got it just right. The bigger tires did a great job in the rain on the wet pavement, no slipping at all, even on wet leaves and sand on the road. Great for comfort on the rough patches, too. Could probably ride gravel with this one, too, but I have better choices for that work. The Nature Boy will be a pavement bike.

The gearing was a bit higher than I expected as far as pedaling effort, but calculating exactly what you'll get with any single speed gear ratio and tire combo is part art and part science. The important thing is that I could handle it, though. For comparison, my Gunnar is also set up for road work. With the Gunnar at max spin on the flats, I can do 13 mph before spinning out. On the Nature Boy with its higher gear ration, I can hit 15.5 mph before spinning out. That's a significant difference in a single speed and, yeah, over the course of 21.5 miles, I could feel it in my legs. Glad to report, though, that I purposely tested me and the bike on my two steepest and hardest climbs and we made it. Took a lot more standing to pedal to do it, but we made it. At this point, I think I can develop the leg strength in a couple of weeks of pedaling this one. If not, a simple gear change is easy to do.

Now down to only my fat bikes for bikes with full gearing and one of those will likely end up single speed, too.

As for the other 2.5 lies, that was on the Krampus on our soggy trails, also in the pouring rain, with Star running along for company. Border Collies like this cool and wet weather more than I do, but it sure beats sitting in the house.

[north woods gal]

Yup, almost looks like my old Pugsley went on a diet.

Before
https://i.postimg.cc/FRPcKs3L/P1080607.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

and after
https://i.postimg.cc/CKCPKDc6/P1100183.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

The Nature Boy replaces the old Pugs. Not to worry, still have the new Pugs and two other fat bikes. :)

[ny biker]

Very nice, NWG!

Good to hear from you, Rebecca. Best wishes to you and Alex on that different road!

I led a ride on Sunday in northern Maryland, 58 miles. It was summer in October, and most of us were less acclimated than we thought we'd be to sunshine, humidity and temps in the 80s. We ended up adding an extra rest stop for water and few minutes in air conditioning. Overall it was a great ride, very scenic with farmland, creeks and rivers. One person thought the route was too zig-zaggy but when I plan a route I go for narrow back roads over direct routes with traffic any day. Another person made a wrong turn and got pretty lost, but fortunately he passed a cyclist who was out riding alone and who helped get him back on track.

The new bike has been ordered, along with a new saddle and pedals. The free-gift bike to be traded in is also on order.

I have a Rivet Independence on my Madone and generally like it. It solved a lot of saddle problems for me. The only thing I would like to change on it is that it somewhat dome-shaped in back. I decided to order a Rivet Pearl to try on the new bike. It has a flatter profile. It's also 1 cm wider. The Indy is just barely wide enough for me, so I'm hoping that extra cm on the Pearl won't be too much.

It will probably be sometime next week before I am able to get fitted on the new bike. They didn't have one in my size to test when I went to the LBS the other day, but there was one that had been sold but not picked up yet that I was able to sit on quickly to check the reach. After comparing the geometry to my 54cm Madone, we had thought the 52 Checkpoint frame would probably work for me, but the fitter at the LBS thought I should try the 54. He measured my arm/shoulder angle on it and said I was right at the upper limit, so we will probably put a slightly shorter stem on it.

I have asked several friends for input re: tires for the bike. I will start out with the stock gravel tires which are 700x35, but I expect I will want something smoother and a bit narrower when I use it on mostly paved rides. I am finding that everyone has different and very strong opinions. So I'm still not sure if I'll want 32 or 28 for road rides. It looks like I will need to experiment with tire pressure, regardless of which one I go with. Also everyone wants me to give up on Gatorskins in favor of something with a smoother ride, no matter how much I tell them that I really really really do not want to be on a dark road at 10 pm wasting the last bit of headlight battery as I try to find the glass that caused a flat. Nor do I want to freeze my fingers off dealing with flats on a winter daytime ride. I'm already content with Gatorskins, I just am not sure which width to go with.

[north woods gal]

As you said, I think it's your call on the tires. I'm like you, though. I'll sacrifice some performance for durability and flat protection. I HAVE had a flat in the dark, riding home late at night, by myself, on a lonely road. One of those times I should not have been out at all, but it was a necessity and something I had to do. Ended up walking three miles instead of riding. Spooky experience. NOT good. I also like wider for comfort and safety on less than perfect roads, but 4mm one way or the other probably isn't going to be too significant. Had 28s on my old Domane that came with the bike and had no complaints at all. The reason I go so wide on my road bikes, up here, is that our paved roads don't get much maintenance or traffic, so lots of debris on the roads at times. That, and I like to go down the occasional dirt or gravel road. Also, I'm always riding solo, so I can take my time. No need to keep up the pace.

[rebeccaC]

thanks NY!!

nwg….here’s some bike path blue sky for you!
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1908/45218032871_a3bf5cc36a_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bTLeNp)

[north woods gal]

Oh, wow, wow, wow! Thanks, rebecca. I can almost feel that sun and that warmth. Much appreciated.

Heavy rains, last night and heavy rains, again, today. Lots of area flooding. Not likely I'll get out, today. Have a dentists's appointment, anyway. Turning colder, soon. Highs in the 30s for next week, already. Haven't had any nice weather at all to enjoy the fall color, yet. It's now past its peak, anyway. Leaves are coming down, fast. Lots of trail cleaning to do, soon.

Woke up with legs a bit stiff after my ride with the Nature Boy, yesterday. I think all the standing to pedal on those climbs, yesterday, are what got me a bit sore. Need more of that kind of work, I guess. May drop the gearing just a tad, but we'll see how it goes for a bit. One thing for sure, it gives me a nice workout, but not so much of a workout as to be dangerous or tear me, down. Cant afford to blow a knee or tear a tendon.

[Crankin]

I did a short ride this morning, before meeting a friend for lunch. Nothing special, except it was already 75 out and very humid. Please, I am done with summer, at least the new version of summer that is humid. Totally sopped through. So, short, but hilly, and my leg is feeling better, especially after a ride. Now I just need the giant bruise on the back/side of my forearm to go away. It never got blue, as I got Arnica on it, so I am hoping by Friday, when I go to the gym, it won't be noticeable!
That hurricane is getting my son in Columbus, GA; on the edge, though. But, his new house in Fayetteville looks like it will be a target again... they are already dealing with asking the seller to fix the damage from the last one. It wasn't huge damage, but enough.

[north woods gal]

Hope everyone survives this big storm. Not that our weather is anything to love, right now, but those monster hurricanes are terrifying.

We did get to do a short neighborhood ride, late afternoon, after heavy rain most of the day. Now the cold moves in. Temp at noon tomorrow is supposed to be only 36 degrees. Highs only in the 30s for the next week, some rain and snow, too. We're having November in October.

The good news is that I felt better on the new Nature Boy, today, on our short ride. I definitely felt stronger than yesterday. Had me worried that it would take awhile to get in good enough shape to enjoy the bike. I'm still going to very slightly drop the gearing down, though, just to be safe.

[Crankin]

That is good, Sheila. I will be talking to my son again tonight, but I think the storm may have been a little closer to Columbus than he thought, when I spoke to him yesterday afternoon.
I did a decent early AM ride this morning, as we are getting rain associated with the storm, starting around 1 PM, with local flooding predicted. It was already 67 degrees out and super humid, but I wore a super lightweight Soleil jersey with long sleeves, which was perfect, and although I had my vest on more for safety, it was fine. I rode across town, around the perimeter of Concord Center, and a bit north/west, then back, essentially on Main St, once I made the turn back. The part of the ride from Concord Center and north, through the turn around is part of the original route of this ride I used to do from my house on the other side of town. It's almost exactly the same mileage, but before, the beginning of the ride was deathly quiet and almost rural at 5:15 am. Now, I am on Main St as soon as I leave my street, with way too many cars heading for the highway east to Boston at that early hour. Seriously, the quietest part of my ride was when I was actually in Concord Center. On the way back, same thing. I rode through west Concord village, instead of staying on Main St., picking it back up after a 1.5 mile detour. It was crazy busy at 6:00 AM. People cut through, coming from places west of here, to avoid a notorious round a bout on the highway. This saddens me. I have another route of the same length, for early AM or short rides that goes west, but it is considerably hillier. Anyway, this route has one short climb, one I gauge my fitness on. Thought I might have to go to the small ring (usually don't have to at this time of year), but I didn't. When I got home, I was surprised to see my average was higher than my last few rides, but it was mostly flat. However, I think I go faster when I can't see my speed on the Garmin!

[rebeccaC]

And my property is fine, so far.

it's difficult for those who haven't actually gone through/witnessed the destruction of a hurricane to understand the longer term problems both financially and mental that survivors go through. I've always been impressed with your strength of spirit in dealing with the storms that have affected your area.....glad to hear your home wasn't badly affected this time......and there are some good opportunities for work in sustainability management and policy here in the hurricane free western u.s.

[north woods gal]

Np tropical storm for us, but some light snow, this morning, then periods sunshine interrupted by short snow squalls. Very windy and cold. We both rode fat bikes, this morning on our neighborhood ride, then did some extra riding to check on flooding in various areas. Our dock, for instance, is now mostly under water. Hubby then went back to the house to warm up and I hit the trails with Star for more riding.

Lowland areas of my trails are aslo flooded with up to a foot of water in places covering the trails. Not an issue, of course with the fat bike. The Pugs 2 just takes it all and keeps rolling. Really love this second edition of the Pugsley. Has all the great features of the original plus some nice upgrades. The trails are fat bike, only at the moment. It's not just the flooding and soft sections; it's also the heavy layer of wet leaves. If someone didn't know my trails, they wouldn't even know they were trails with all the leaves. Figure another week, at most, and all the leaves will be down. Then it will be time to clean the trails once more before they get covered with snow. Anyway, finished with 5 miles of trail work and 2 miles of road work on the Pugs. A good morning ride, even if it was chilly.

Even if the weather wasn't telling me winter is coming, all the migrating birds would. Saw my first migrating Juncos, this week. That's a sure sign of fall. Lots and lots of waterfowl on the lake. This morning was a real treat. Six Tundra Swans stopped on the lake and we could see them from the house. These are a migrating bird for us and an uncommon bird. Only see Tundras every second or third year.

The cool weather is invigorating. May try an afternoon ride, too.

UPdate: Did, of course. Only 8 miles because if the high winds and cold, but beats sitting in the house.

[Crankin]

Cemeteries are tourist attractions in my town... when my husband had colleagues in town from China, they wanted to go to "Author's Row," to see where the transcendental writers were buried. They took pictures, as do others. They even have walking paths in that one, where some people ride.
I don't see anything wrong with it.

[Crankin]

The south was home to many thriving Jewish communities, and there are remnants of many of them. Even in Columbus, I saw glimpses of this, stores that had been in business for 70-100 years now going out of business, because the original owners' descendants no longer want to be shop owners. Jews were owners of dry goods stores, restaurants, and often the town pharmacist or physician. Pretty much after WW 2, this started changing. I remember a long time ago, my parents had friends who moved to Atlanta; the guy was a liberal rabbi. They were back in MA after a year or two. They couldn't take the racism of the area in the late 50s/early 60s.
There's a lot of family history hidden in those old cemeteries. I have never been to Charleston. It's on my list.

[Crankin]

Yes, I have been to Savannah, twice. Once when we went to boot camp grad and the next year when we rented a condo in HHI and flew my dad in from San Diego for a vacation. I did not get to see that much, either time, but I did see the monument to the early Jewish settlers.
Spoke to my son last night. The base opened late yesterday. He said winds Wednesday night were no more than 30-40 mph, they lost power for about 2 hours. A few people went to the shelter in the convention center because their power was out longer. Schools were closed yesterday, which he thought was weird and stupid (coming from a New Englander, I can see this). He said the rain was nothing more than a regular hard rainstorm.

[north woods gal]

Finally got a couple days of drying out and the extended forecast looks dry, too. Still cool with 30s and 40s for highs, but I can handle that.

Beautiful classic fall day, today. Cool and brisk and windy with lots of leaves coming down and being blown around. Really just a great day to be outdoors. Only did 11 miles on the road, but added another 4 on the trails. Nothing strenuous, just relaxed and enjoyed the fall weather as we rode. Summer is gone for sure, but I've said my good-byes and have moved on.

[Crankin]

It rained almost all day here.This morning I finally went and bought new running shoes, which are sorely overdue. While I don't really run, I wear them at boot camp, where there is some running involved. The rain stopped around 2:00, when I went with DH to pick up something at Best Buy. It's about 30 minutes away, in a very busy area. Since the last time I was in this shopping center, a Sierra Trading Post opened. Ended up buying a puffy vest and a fleecy sweatshirt. Had hoped to at least take a walk when we got back, but it started raining again about mile from home. A moot point by now, it's rare I take a full rest day on a weekend, but it feels good. My leg had been hurting a bit more from my fall, so I went back to icing at least 3x a day on Thursday and it is much better.
Tomorrow we are going to ride to a food festival at Bolton Farms. This is a very hilly ride. Not sure how far it is; used to be 50 miles from our last house, but I think it may be a bit less.

[Geonz]

FALL got here yesterday after weeks in the 80's... it feels so good even if it's just commuting and running errands. 51 now so time for a quick ride!

[ny biker]

30 degrees colder today than my last two rides. We planned a 58 mile ride, a variation on the annual Gettysburg tour that my friend leads. The sun is still fairly strong so it was not bad with temps in the 50s.

But I fell a couple of miles into the ride. I was riding next to a friend, chatting, got too close to the edge of the pavement, went off the edge onto the grass next to it, foolishly tried to get back onto the pavement and fell on my left side. My left palm and wrist took most of the impact, followed by my elbow and knee.

Of course I did the whole ride (probably not smart but we did stop several times to evaluate and the pain was not getting worse). It was a slow touring ride with numerous stops, a long day in the saddle ( and a really nice route). I had full range of motion in my wrist but it hurt, and by the end some bruises had appeared and it felt stiff. No visible swelling. After we finished I bought an elastic and neoprene brace for compression and immobilization. Iced it once I got home. Consulted with a nurse (family member) who said to see how it is in the morning -- no need for urgent care tonight. I don't think anything is broken but there is definitely soft tissue damage. By the end of the ride I felt a twinge in my back/shoulder back beneath my neck, no doubt from the impact going up my arm.

The elbow is okay as long as I don't touch the tip of the bone -- that is sore. I scraped my knee but it's not serious. All the extra layers of clothes prevented serious road rash. (So yay colder weather, I guess.) My left bootie is torn but I needed new ones anyway. Most importantly, although I hit my friend's bike as I fell she stayed upright. This is important because her bones are way less dense than mine.

The bike is okay I think. The shifter got knocked crooked. We fixed that, but it made a slight noise when I braked and felt wrong. As it happens I already planned to go to the LBS tomorrow, to pick up my new gravel bike. I still have not test ridden it so tomorrow I planned to take it for a spin on the rail trail next to the shop. First I was going to put the pedals on myself because it seemed like something I could handle myself and is worth learning (and saving some labor costs).

So now I will have them look at the shifter on the old bike, and I will pay for the new one and take it home. Hopefully in a few days I will be able to ride it.

[Crankin]

So sorry your crashed, NY. Your injuries sound a lot like what I have experienced, both in bike crashes and now, with the fall I had last weekend, hiking. Get some Arnica gel. Put it on the bruises, and anywhere that feels stiff or swollen. You can use it 4X a day. It really helps healing, along with icing.

[north woods gal]

Hang in, there, N.Y. We've all taken a spill and, as we all know, I'm still doing it. :) Hope you recover, soon.

One of the things that you might check on the shifting is the derailleur. With MTB crashes, bending a derailleur arm is very common occurrence and that will give you fits with the shifting. Easy enough fix by bending it back. On the other hand, if you actually damaged the brifter on a road bike, that gets very pricey. Very expensive part on a road bike. Hope it isn't that.

Light snow, as I write this, this morning. Ugh! Oh, I'll still go out with a fat bike on the trails so Star and I can get some exercise, but not a great day for biking. Oh, well, Florida this is not and I know it.

[ny biker]

Thanks ladies. All in all it could have been worse. There is a bit of swelling today on the back (not palm side) of my wrist, but it feels better today than last night. My elbow is a bit puffy too. I probably could test ride the new bike today but it would be better not to.

I realized when cleaning the cut on my knee that I landed on a scar, a spot I have cut twice before. The first time I was 4 or 5, walking my bike (I think with training wheels still) and somehow managed to trip and fall. My knee hit a small sharp rock, which hurt a lot and left the scar. Then back in 2003 I was riding my then-new road bike on a paved trail through some woods. There were puddles from recent rain. I went through a muddy curve too fast and fell, right on that scar. So yesterday was my third time cutting the same spot. Third time's a charm?

I learned several lessons yesterday. First, it you go off the edge of the road, keep going straight and stop rather than trying to ride back onto the pavement. Two, pay more attention when chatting while cycling!! (c) Keep an ace bandage in your bike bag along with the regular and large Band-Aids.

[Crankin]

For once I did the ride I set out to do to Bolton Farms, although we did make it a bit shorter and took an alternative a friend had told me about. I had been on the road, going the other way. It was quite lovely, and a downhill. It was cool when we started, about 49. I was dressed correctly, and because we had a headwind on the way there, and it was mostly cloudy, I did not get overheated. At one point, I took my head cover off, but then, we went down that hill and I was cold, but I knew we were almost at our stop. This ride has a lot of climbing. The first climb is a hill I often gauge my fitness on, but I've only climbed it 2-3 times this season. It felt pretty hard... as we turned on to this climb, first we passed woman struggling to get up a little rise before the turn. She was zig zagging so we had to call out. DH suggested a lower gear, but she was not responsive. Then, on the first part of the climb, we saw a guy walking. He had a nice bike and looked experienced, and was not broken down. When we go to the top, his wife was waiting. Then, as we were deciding if we were really going to do the intended ride, we stopped at our turn. The struggling woman rode by us, on the same road, also a difficult 8-10% climb. The husband and wife also passed us. We decided to go for it, and we passed the struggler, and the guy got off his bike again, to walk. We caught the woman, who told us he was doing chemo, and insisted on doing a 30 mile hilly ride. Perhaps not a good choice. We went ahead and got onto the new part of the ride; there were cars parked all along the road before the farm market where the festival was, so we pulled in the lot and then walked our bikes to the patio. Mostly vendors giving samples of junk food and people buying apples and cider donuts. There was a good band playing, so we went inside and bought a sandwich to share. We ate quickly, as we felt cold, and then quickly warmed up on the 4 mile climb into Harvard Centre. As we turned by the Harvard General Store, we saw our friend Jack, pulling in, with some riders he was leading. We stopped for a second to say hi, and then up the last major climb to a big downhill. At this point we repeated about a mile of the beginning of the ride, but we stopped to take pictures. Finally, after another teeny hill, we got back to what I call my favorite roads in our old town.
The ride ended up being 35.3 miles. My knee/leg was hurting and then my other knee started hurting. I was going to do a Meet Up ride on Wednesday, but it's 19 miles with 1,100 ft of hard climbs, so I don't think I should annoy my injury even more. If the ride was longer, I might, but I'm afraid to make it worse and to be dropped by new people, even though the stated average is in my range. I still might ride with my regular group.
Glad I went, glad I didn't do 50, and happy with the cooler weather. The colors are not anywhere near peak, seems a bit late this year.

[ny biker]

I picked up the new bike!

I put two bottle cages on along with the pedals while I was the bike shop parking lot. The only difficulty was opening the tube of Park Tools grease -- I didn't have scissors to cut the tip open. But I had told the folks working in the shop that I was going to attempt my first pedal installation and would be back if I ran into problems. So while I was putting on the bottle cages one of them came out to see how I was doing. He took the tube of grease inside and opened it for me.

I rode in circles around the parking lot a few times. I definitely need a fitting. The reach to the handlebars is ok but the reach to the hoods is too long. The hoods are huge! I think they can be adjusted, though.

Before I left I had them show me how to remove the wheels and got a spacer for the disc brakes for when I have to remove a wheel. They said a piece of cardboard would work too, as long as it is roughly as thick as the rotor. Good to know.

I maxed out on posting photos here a long time ago -- will have to figure out how to delete some so I can upload photos of the new bike.

[north woods gal]

Congrats on the new bike, N.Y. Always fun getting a new bike tuned and fitted.

Woke up to a skiff of icy snow on the ground, this morning. Most of the leaves are down on the ground, now, so spent most of yesterday in the rain and falling snow clearing the trails of the heavy leaf layer. It's mostly a matter of safety, since the leaves hide some trail obstacles that can easily be avoided when you can see them. Clean trails also make for faster riding trails. I did finish up with some trail riding on the fat bike, of course. Can't go a day without some riding, right? :)

Looks like our fall season is going to be about as short as our spring season we had, this year. Some of my trails behind the house.
https://i.postimg.cc/pr3yM7BS/P1100192.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[north woods gal]

Despite the cold, did a lot of trail improvement work on a rough section. Finished up and just as I stepped back into the house, got a call from the bike shop that my gears for the Nature Boy were in. Loaded up the bike and they changed out the gearing while I waited. They gave me a lesson on how to change a chain ring in front and a single speed cog in the back, plus they sold me the two tools to do the job. Love these guys.

Went right home and did 16.5 miles on the Nature Boy, now with lower and more comfortable gearing. Turned the Nature Boy from a 15.5 mph bike at my max spin to 13.2 mph bike at my max spin. Doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it really is significant. It means that while I am a bit slower on the flats, I can do most of my climbing without having to stand on the pedals. Then, too, today I had to deal with strong winds and the lower gearing was much appreciated. Very pleased with my decision. I think my knees are pleased, too.

Did I mention that temps were only in the 30s during my ride? Still some colors on the trees and did have some sunshine, so despite the cold, it was a beautiful ride.

Here's a very retro add on I found at the bike shop. It's a Nantucket bike basket. I love it. It doesn't flop around like a nylon bag and the rigid construction with a big wide open top make finding items MUCH easier. Quality construction. Okay, not modern, high tech, but then, I'm not too modern and high tech, either. Wouldn't be riding steel single speed bikes if I was.

https://i.postimg.cc/mk9SBZV7/P1100194.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/vHRzX9Hh/P1100196.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Crankin]

I like that basket, NWG. I saw some like that at Belmont Wheelworks, when I bought the Ariel.
No riding today or yesterday. Bootcamp kicked my azz yesterday, but in a good way. However, my leg/knee started hurting worse from my hiking fall, mostly I think from the 2,000 ft of climbing I did on Sunday. I iced my leg 3 times yesterday and once this morning. It was such a beautiful fall day today, DH and I went on a 2.5 mile walk when we got home. My knee/leg feels sore, but it's not acute pain. I iced it again when I got back and I plan to do a 40 mile ride tomorrow. I did bag out of the 18n mile 1,300 ft of climbing ride, but I will ride with my usual group, right around here. It starts about 4 miles from my house the ride is 32 miles, so if I can stop myself from turning right onto my street when we ride by near the end, I should end up with 40. I have nothing else to do and I should socialize at lunch with these people.

[north woods gal]

Take care of that knee, girl. I worry a lot about blowing out a knee with all my single speed riding, now. A bad knee could really put an end to my biking. Do enjoy the fall weather, though. Get out and ride while you can.

Very nice day for us. Temps got up into the upper 40s and had some nice sunshine. Really nice day. Very welcome change from what we've been having for fall weather. Did our usual neighborhood roads ride of about 6 miles, me on the Nature Boy, now with more knee friendly gearing. Got home and traded the Nature Boy for the Log Lady with its trail friendly gearing and did 6 wonderful miles of laps and just noodling around for fun on my trails. Star loved it, too.

[Crankin]

It is not directly on my knee, so I am not overly concerned. It is right underneath, and also on the smallish bruise on the right side. I also have to consider I had that bike crash about 8 weeks ago, pretty much in the same spot, plus another one in June 2017. Nothing that required medical intervention, but, still repetitive stress.It basically feels bruised. Been cautious, but I think it just needs time.

[Crankin]

OK, I did the ride, at least most of it... I knew dressing for a temperature starting at 40 would be hard, because it would be going up to around 52-55. Though it was partly cloudy when I left to ride the 4 miles to the start, it became sunny. My mid layer (jersey) was basically too heavy... I was able to unzip my jacket and jersey and basically ended up taking both the heavy and light head cover off, and taking off my gloves in the middle of the ride and putting the liners I had used for the trip to the start on as gloves. I did wear my winter cycling shoes and that was fine.
There were about 15-20 people. Some I like, others, just weird. The leader was the woman whose DH got hit and killed by a driver a few years ago (on his way to the dentist). They are/were lovely people, but she's sometimes edgy when riding. I can't explain it. She can sustain a faster pace than me on flats for a longer period, but I can drop her in a minute on a climb. So, I alternately felt sweaty and my legs were burning from trying to stay with the front group. This ride was really just on all of the typical roads I ride on, especially the ones in Acton, Stow, and Boxboro, and back to Concord. However, near the end, where I had told her I was going to peel off and head home, she took a wrong turn (how can you do that with GPS?). It wasn't a big deal wrong turn, but it ended up in a spot where she was going to lead the group to make a left onto a busy road with a small rise and poor sightlines. I would never do that. Since I was already feeling tired from being overheated, I decided to part ways there and make a right on the busy road and then a left, which is a parallel street to the one they were heading for. I rarely take this way home, because it is really hilly, with 3 climbs, the first one the worst. It's also narrower than the other street, which is my go to way out of my area. But, I decided I'd get home quicker, although with less miles, and I could go as slow as I wanted, with no peer pressure!
I was very glad to get home. My total was 29 miles, not the 36 I thought I would have, but it's more than I would have done alone.

[north woods gal]

Impressive miles, again, Crankin. When I read about folks, here, doing all these group rides I can't help but wonder how I could possibly do those. Been decades since I've done a group ride. Have almost zilch confidence that I could manage such a thing, now. I doubt I could keep pace.

Did my usual hour plus on my trails, this morning, but temps only in the 30s, so pretty chilly. Then took the Krampus in for a tubeless conversion. All my other bikes are tubeless, now, and I can feel the difference. The Krampus has a harsher ride compared to my tubeless setup bikes. Going tubeless does make for a smoother ride. It's something I've noticed on every bike that I've had converted from tube to tubeless.

While at the bike shop, saw something you don't see except up in the north country. Our bike shop was working on a couple of wheeled sled dog sleds for folks that run and race sled dogs in the winter. The wheeled sleds allow them to train with their dogs in the summer months. Bet you don't see the in Florida! :)

[ny biker]

I know people who can (and do) get lost despite having GPS.

I went for the new bike fitting last night, after looking at it next to the old Madone WSD and deciding I probably needed to switch it for a smaller size (52). So the first thing I said to the fitter was that I was worried that the frame was just too big and the reach was too long to be fixed with a shorter stem.

I brought the Madone with me, and he started by putting the new saddle on the new bike based on measurements from the Madone. Then he compared some measurements between the two bikes (end of saddle to different points on the handlebar) and felt that the 54 would be okay. I rode it on the indoor trainer while he took some video and used some kind of software to measure a few angles. If you draw a line up the side of your back to the shoulder and then down to the hand, the angle should be between 85 and 90 degrees, and I was at 88. So we agreed that I would go out for a test ride and see how things felt. If necessary the next step would be to try an 80mm stem (down from the 90mm stem that came on the bike). And if I really don't feel right after additional adjustments, I can still turn in the bike and get the smaller frame.

We also adjusted the shift/brake levers. At the farthest out position I could barely reach them in the drops, but now they are close enough, I think. I might even be able to move them back out a bit. It looks like an easy adjustment to make.

BTW one big reason I decided the new bike would be a useful investment was that it is supposed to hold 4 water bottles -- three in the triangle and one more on the front of the down tube. There is a video on the Trek website showing the bike with 4 water bottles. Unfortunately it turns out that this is only true for frames that are 56 or larger. If you scroll down to the Q and A's, they admit that 54 and smaller can only fit the usual two bottles in the triangle. There are holes for a third cage on my bike but not enough room to fit the top bottle under the top tube. I might be able to squeeze it in but wouldn't be able to take out a bottle and drink while riding. It really amazes me that they would make a point of showing this feature on the video when it only applies for tall people. It's insulting.

Tonight I am going out to ride, but on the old bike. My wrist is much better after the crash on Saturday but still not 100%, and the route is too hilly for a first ride on flat pedals. And I just prefer to do the shakedown on a new bike in daylight and closer to the bike shop in case anything needs adjusting. So tonight, for old time's sake, I will ride the Madone.

[Crankin]

I think it's a good idea to do the test ride under perfect conditions, too. I am the type of person that feels every little change, so I need to minimize those I can control! However, my idea of the perfect test ride in the adjacent neighborhood, that has lots of streets that are loops, with enough rollers to use the gears backfired when it started torrentially raining after a mile! The forecast said it wasn't supposed to rain for 45 minutes-hour and there was nothing on the radar. It ended up being quite funny and it convinced me the bike was perfect, as it did great under those conditions.
Yeah, the bottle thing. My Ariel is so small that I can only fit one cage. However the trunk bag I bought has another holder, which I use for coffee when I ride to work. If I ever go on a long ride with that bike, I will use the trunk bag.
I get that some people get mixed up using GPS (DH is one), but she was snarky to me when I made the suggestion to go turn around and take the intended route. We are talking like 1/4 of a mile back track. To me, it shows lack of preparation. If I am leading a new route, I pre-ride it. I make sure there are no road closures or other funky things. Even the meeting place was a fail; the town had had half of the parking lot closed for a few weeks and the road is all stripped of pavement, as they put new pipes in. Many of the people had to pay for parking or park far away because of this (there was another faster group, so maybe a total of 30 people). I know this because I live in town, but the leader does not. Once you pre-ride a route, there's less of a chance of making the kind of mistake she made. I pretty much left the ride at that point, because of the way she spoke to me and acted. She knows that I live in the area, I am a ride leader for a different group, and given the way her husband died, she should be thinking about minimizing risk.

[north woods gal]

I tend to be hyper sensitive to adjustments on my bikes, too. Maybe it's a gal thing. Who knows? Since I ride so many different bikes, though, I'm careful not to do any adjustments, right away, when switching to another bike. I like to get some miles in on a new bike to get to know the bike, but, yeah, then the adjustments start. I also do my test rides on familiar routes and average weather conditions for the sake of comparisons with the other bikes. Sounds like you've got some expert fitting help, there, N.Y.. Good for you.

Crankin', hard to understand why that group leader didn't do any scouting, either. If she knew you live in the area, she could have at least called you.I've been thinking about a GPS for a long time, now, but I know all the roads in my area, so I don't really need one, plus keeping things simple and uncomplicated is more my style. Tell you what, though, if I was back in Chicago or other big city area, I would darn sure have a GPS. My sense of direction is simply horrid. Got lost many times when I lived there. I'd also have a GPS if we were like Emily and constantly biking in new areas. For now, though, no need for a GPS.

Gorgeous day shaping up, but, unfortunately, other things on the schedule, so won't be able to do a lot of biking. Will get out and do some, though. Have snow showers coming over the weekend.

[north woods gal]

All day rain and drizzle, yesterday, but warm enough to be comfortable, at least. Did 16 miles in the rain. 14 miles were on the Nature Boy on local roads, purposely selecting some challenging hills to make it a good workout. Finished with 2 miles on my soggy trails, mostly to give Star a good workout.

Woke up to high winds and snow, this morning. Third time it's snowed, this month. What happened to autumn? I am not ready for this. Only about an inch on the ground, so spent the day blowing the snow and leaf litter of the trails, but took me most of the day to get it done. Too tired and cold to ride when I was done. The trails will dry out, quickly, though, and with more seasonable weather on the way, next week, should be able to dome riding than trail work. I hope.

[Crankin]

I didn't ride at all this weekend. Yesterday, there was a small window of sun and not so windy; we walked RT 4.1 miles to a celebration in the village center. Not so much going on, but a good, brisk walk. Today, we had DGD. Had planned to go all over town in the trailer, but with 45 degrees and winds gusting to 35, it felt like January! I ended up doing hill intervals on the treadmill (walking) for 20 minutes, and then we took her to the Old North Bridge, where we made her walk a mile and recreate some family history by sitting on a big tree. Too bad the one we had our kids climb up is cordoned off and dying. Absolutely no color in the trees here. Alarming. No global warming, of course.

[north woods gal]

Nice ride, yesterday. Finally, no rain, at least, but quite cold with temps the 30s. Did 12 miles on pavement around the neighborhood on the Gunnar. Not that I need ANY excuse to ride this fabulous single speed, but I figured the wider tires would be safer, since a lot of the roads have heavy leaf cover and after Saturday's storm, a lot of it was still wet and even icy. Finished the day with 4 miles of trail riding with Star and even managed to do more trail maintenance work. All in all, very productive day.

A slight skim of ice along the lake shore, this morning. Our leaves are all down, now. Looking like late fall, even though it's still a bit early. Time to get the fat bikes set up for snow riding. I think it's going to be an early winter.

[Crankin]

I'm getting concerned that my riding is going to be limited by weather and my schedule for at least 2 weeks. It's gone from August to early December in about 10 days in terms of temperature, which would be OK, without the high winds and rain. I think I may be able to ride Wednesday, but it will be on my own. Friday, I have a friend who moved to the Cape staying over, and she won't won't ride at 46 degrees, which is the predicted temperature for the day... we will hike. Torrential rains both weekend days. Next week doesn't look much better and my birthday weekend in western MA may not include any riding, either, for the first time I can remember since I've been riding.

[north woods gal]

I do understand about trying to motivate yourself to ride when the weather takes a turn for the worse after decent riding weather. Even crazy old "ride in any weather" me finds it tough to do. I will say, though, that as long as I dressed, appropriately, once I'm actually out there in the cold and rain and even snow, I'm usually glad I made the effort. Also helps that I have a long history of riding in bad weather, so bad weather doesn't intimidate me as much as it does for some others. Even so, sometimes when I'm out there riding in rough weather, can't help but think I must be a little crazy. Guess it's part of that old traditional notion that bicycles are for riding in nice weather, only. Hard to overcome that idea, at times. Anyway, I do understand about trying to get out and ride in yucky weather. As always, do what you think is best for your riding. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Just because I'm a little crazy, doesn't mean everyone else has to be. :)

Speaking of the weather, it was gorgeous, here, yesterday. Naturally, yesterday just happened to be a day when we had to run a bunch of errands, too. Oh, well. I did get out and ride, late afternoon, though, and managed 4 miles of trail work on the Log Lady. Riding my skinnier tire MTB is my reward for keeping my trails clean, but the trails must still be dry enough. Love the fat bikes and the plus bikes, but riding a bike like the Log Lady brings out the kid in me. Makes me laugh and holler and hoot. Total fun bike on the trail.

So much for the nice weather, though. Forecast is back to cloudy and cold, today.

Update: the sun did manage to peek though the clouds for a bit, even though temps never got out of the 40s. Funny how a little sunshine can improve one's mood. Anyway, did manage a good, strenuous 21.4 miles of pavement with mostly hills on the Nature Boy. Got home, then managed 2 miles on the trails with one of the fat bikes, mostly to give Star her daily trail run.

Neck still gets stiff and sore after a given number of hours of bicycling. Not painful or anything, just uncomfortable. I suspect that's going to be the status quo for me from now on. An all day ride may be a thing of the past for me, now. Oh, well. At least I'm still in the land of the living and still riding. Not complaining.

[Crankin]

I can do cold, and some think I am crazy for that, but I don't feel safe riding in the rain. I do it if I have to. Tomorrow looks pretty good and I have no commitments until 1 PM.
Right now it's becoming very stormy, dark, severe weather alert. Glad I got home in time. They just lifted a tornado warning in SE MA, so it's around.
It's thundering like crazy...

[north woods gal]

I might be a little crazy about riding in bad weather, but I don't do lightning, tornadoes, blizzards, torrential rains or any of the other weather nasties. In the past, I've had to do some of those by necessity, sometimes stopping to take shelter where I could, but not the sort of experiences I would want to repeat. No way. Still, riding my bike in my commuting days did have advantages in a couple of truly bad weather events in Chicago. The weather had stalled traffic and backed it for many miles, causing people not to get home till late at night. Meanwhile, I just walked my bike around bad spots and made the ride home in almost my average time. Then, too, my bike started every morning and never got stuck in the snow.

Beautiful day shaping up, but, of course, more errands to run in town. Have to get things better co-ordinated. :) Will probably ride, late afternoon.

[Crankin]

North Woods, I was channeling you this morning. Forecast was very unpredictable, but with no rain predicted until noon. Yet, it looked cold and raw, so I got out my stuff for spin, which is an hour earlier than I planned to do an outdoor ride. I started feeling wimpy and decided 1) I needed some bad-assery in my life and 2) It was nowhere near my limit for cold temperatures at 44. So I just got in my outdoor riding clothes, put air in my tires and hung out until 9:30. I did one last check of the radar, which showed nothing. I had thought about wearing my rain jacket, but instead, at the last minute, I chose a Gore-Tex winter cycling jacket that I bought from someone on TE. It's very thin, but extremely toasty, and I chose it over my normal winter cycling jacket because although they both really can only be use in real cold and make me overheat unless it's in the mid thirties or below, this one has pit zips and actually, you can zip the whole sleeves off each arm.
Went out my basement door and noticed some water on my Garmin. I didn't think anything of it, maybe drops from a tree or the roof, or spray off of the leaves. Put on my lights, and started off, and just as soon as I turned onto Main St, I knew it was raining. But, I didn't go back, despite it being more like a light rain than a drizzle. The sun was coming out in one direction and there was dark sky in another. I kept going, thinking I would turn back and do a 2 mile loop if it got worse. But, by the time I go to the point of turning, it had slowed, so I went on, deciding to do my shortish early AM route. There's a climb at this point, so I knew I'd be warm. The Gore Tex worked repelling the rain, though my tights felt damp. When I got near the top of the hill, it had started raining more steadily again, so I decided to take a short cut of half a mile and head back, knowing there were ways to extend the route, if the rain stopped. It was never heavy, but by this time I felt both sweaty and damp at the same time. So, I ended up doing 7 miles, one of my shortest rides ever, on the road, except for a commute.
I was out for about 30 minutes, and I felt really good from the fresh air, but the risk of hypothermia did worry me. I was dressed correctly, but did not have my helmet rain cover, just a fleece cap under the helmet. It continued raining and got worse until it finally stopped around 1:30.
I was able to get all of my errands done and meet a friend for lunch at 1, so I feel good I got outside and didn't suffer in the sweaty gym...

[north woods gal]

Hey, Crankin, way to go, girl! Yeah, the dressing part is always the trickiest for me, too. Have an old Gore-tex bicycling rain jacket, but it ain't what it used to be. Definitely showing its age and it leaks a bit, now. Time to get something new, but they are so darn expensive. The one plus I have going for me is that most of my biking is close to home, so if I start to get wet and chilled, I'm never far from home. In my Chicago days, though, I did have a very close call with hypothermia on a wet and cold day. That taught me a lesson. You can always shed layers if you over-dress, but if you dress too light and things turn nasty, you're in trouble.

We pushed our errands back till late afternoon, instead of running them first and then riding when we get back. Cool this morning, but no wind and lots of sunshine, so our morning ride was quite pleasant. Not a lot of miles, but anymore, I don't worry too much about the miles. I'm more interested in getting a good workout and that's a matter of adding a lot of hills on a ride. Oh, yeah, hills we have. Most are gentle, but some are challenging. Riding single speed also makes hill climbing a good workout, too. Not riding anywhere near the total miles I once did, but, thanks to the single speed riding, I think my leg strength is as good as it's ever been. My wind, too.

[Crankin]

Yes, this is why I don't fret about my 7-12 mile rides in the early AM, or in yesterday's case, because of weather. These rides always have 1-2 good hills and frankly, the only flat rides I can do are either across town and back (10 miles), an extension of this that has one hill, but we still call it the "flat ride," and is 18-20 miles, or riding to the bike trail in a longer way.
I woke up at 4 AM, so since I was up, I went to spin class at 5:30. Only one other person was there, I guess they were all up late watching the Red Sox. I am glad they won, but I can't alter my schedule for that! I am meticulously rigid about my sleep, exercise, and nutrition schedule, because if I am not, bad things happen.

[north woods gal]

Yipee! Got my Krampus back from the shop and those big 29x3 tires are now tubeless. Does it make a difference? You bet it does. The Kramp now rides the way I always hoped it would ride. Much more lively and responsive with those lighter wheels, plus a softer ride with better traction.

... and the single speed addiction continues. Dropped off the Pugs 2 at the same time. Soon to be another single speed for me to ride.

[north woods gal]

Gray and cloudy and cool all day, yesterday, but at least reasonable for this time of year as far as the 40s temp. Did 13 miles of pavement on the Nature Boy, but cut it short, there, so I could get home and ride the Krampus to see if it was really as big an improvement as I thought it was, now that it's tubeless. The good news is that, oh yeah, I wasn't imagining it. Did 6 miles of trail riding on the Krampus and loved it. May seem contradictory, but on a plus size bike like the Krampus, going tubeless makes for a softer ride (more flex in the tires, no inner tube pushing against it from the inside) AND a faster ride because the greatly reduced wheel weight makes for much better acceleration. That's especially important on a single speed.

May do one final cleanup of my trails, clearing them of all leaves and debris, before the snow covers everything. Up here, of course, that can be any day, now.

[north woods gal]

Another wet, cold and rainy day, yesterday. Not much better, today, but at least it's not raining. Anyway, did my usual rides on both the pavement and the trails, yesterday. Used a fat bike, on the trails, as I always do when they're wet and soggy. Pretty amazing how little imprint those monster wide tires make in wet dirt and mud.

If the trails are dry enough, today, will go a bit smaller on the tires for trail work with either the Krampus or maybe even the Log Lady with it's 2.25" wide tires. Could really, really, really use some sunshine, though. Would make me feel a lot better, at least.

[Crankin]

I did the usual ride I do in the super early AM, but instead at 10:45 AM. It was in the 20s this morning, waited until it would be 35+. Of course, the lovely bright sun went in and it was cloudy and I swear I felt a mist when I started. I wore my heated gloves, why suffer?
Something was off with my clothing. I either needed my wind jacket instead of my winter jacket or a lighter jersey or base layer. I was simultaneously cool and sweaty. Not terribly, and unzipping helped.
Glad I went, but it's embarrassing to be doing such short rides. I am meeting someone for lunch, otherwise I would have gone on a group ride. Feeling a little burned out; this is normal at this time of year, but since I hardly rode any big miles this year, I shouldn't feel this way. I will not look at my total measly mileage until 12/31.

[north woods gal]

Hey, Crankin, those short rides can add up. Never even hit 30 miles, this month, on a single ride, but by riding every day, I managed to do just over 400 miles for the month. I'm very pleased with that, given that October was mostly lousy for weather. Also, about a third of those 400 miles were the harder to pedal trail miles and all but about 75 miles were on single speeds. I think that doing short rides, every day, is better for me at my age than doing a few really big rides every week. Those big rides tend to wear me out, more, now, and take a lot longer for me to recover.

Of course, I am retired and can ride right outside my back door all I want, so riding every day is doable for me. I know it is not for most folks. I am grateful for what I have. I am blessed.

Yeah, hard to believe that it's November, already, tomorrow.