-
Well, speaking of snow, we got nailed. Woke up to ten inches of new snow, this morning, on top of the foot of old snow we already had on the ground. If that isn't enough, we're due to get another storm in a couple of days. As I've mentioned, before, March comes in like a lion, up here, but that darn lion sticks around well into April and sometimes even May. Par for the course.
Still, I am bummed out. My riding is out until the snow plow comes through our area. If it does, I'll grab a fat bike with studded tires and take my chances out on neighborhood roads. As for my trails, I'm done. I'm beat. I give up. I've managed to keep them open all winter long by shoveling and using a snow blower, only to see them turn to ice, anyway, this month. Was it with all the effort? Will I do it, again, next winter? I don't know. Something to think about over the summer (if it it ever shows up). No more his year, though.
Not going out on a sour note, though. I had a good month, probably my best March, ever. First half was all snow riding and the second half was mostly road riding on our dry pavement roads. Pavement riding is not something I expect to do in March, but logged in almost 200 miles on the road and who knows how many on the trails? Only missed two days of riding all month. One was for digging out (probably one of those, today) and one was for skiing.
On to April.
-
For beach riding, a fat bike would be tops. Can't say what ocean salt would do, but I do know that road salt can definitely take its toll on aluminum, too. A lot depends of the aluminum alloy used and its finish. For sure, in the winter in Chicago, had to clean off my bikes after every ride. Both the aluminum and steel frames held up pretty well as long as I did that. It was some of the small parts that took the hit with the salt because it was harder to clean in the small areas where the salt would collect. As for carbon, have no experience with how it reacts with salt. Not being metal, it might not be as sensitive to salt. Maybe we can get some feedback on this.
-
Update
We finally dug out from our storm, Bill with the snow blower and me with the cleanup work with the shovel. No small task, since our driveway is 500 feet (longer than football field) long. Snow blowers are great, but they don't get down close to the surface. Leave a coating of snow that will turn to ice if you don't get rid of it. Anyway, over two hours of work.
The good news is that I can now ride the bike out to our paved roads, which were plowed shortly before I finished with the shovel. Was dead tired and cold, but really felt a morale booster was needed, so took one of the fat bikes with studded tires for a short three mile run around the neighborhood. That was enough, though. Felt much better knowing I could still ride.
-
Sounds tough, and for the last day of March, too much snow!
Had a wonderful ride with our friends. We had done this ride, or I realize now, a version of it, last fall, and I thought it was 22 miles, but today was 18.5. Anyway, bright sun, temperature going up from 49 to 55, with a light wind. Lots of cyclists out there.
Nothing felt bad, a little tough in the beginning, as we have to climb a short steep hill after a mile, but then, all was well. Three out of the four of us pushed it on my favorite road, good for gauging your fitness, and then we went back to our moderate, slower speed.
Now getting ready for our Seder.
