September rides, bringing in the fall.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Excited to hear about your plans, Emily. My first real international trip was to Merida, when I was a senior in high school. I loved that city and now I realize it was more like Spain, than other parts of Mexico.
We are having a good visit with my som amd family. They are dealing with a bit of hassle with buying their house in Fayetville, with just a little damage from Florence. We will not see them or the new baby, until later December, when they visit in Philadelphia with her family, so we will go down there. The baby is due in the beginning of November, then they will move.

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I haven't been to Spain, but I can imagine that. Merida is a very international city, quite cultured and upscale, with some lovely restaurants and many cultural events. Lots of expats from the US, Canada, and beyond are choosing it as a place to settle, because it is quite safe and the cost of living is so much less than where they are from. It's very hot, though, being inland, and there's little green space, which led us to choose living much closer to the beach, at least for now. A large part of that is because the Airbnb house we found has a private, fully walled courtyard with grass, packed sand, foliage, and shade trees, perfect for our dog. Many of the houses in Merida have courtyards, but they are usually concrete ground only, not good for a dog to do her business, so we'd have to walk her on the hot sidewalks. With her heart condition, that wouldn't be ideal. However, once it's just the two of us, I can see the possibility of moving to Merida since there is a lot more going on there and better shopping, restaurants, etc.

Glad you're enjoying your family visit!

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Originally Posted by Crankin

The climate here is killing me! Really, how anyone can be outdoors in 80-85 degrees and 90% humidity is beyond me. Woke up with a sore throat I know is from the weather and I did not walk today. We went to Calloway Gardens, so some slow walking for about 1.5 miles. Great butterfly house, the birds of prey show, eh. Getting ready for an early dinner a fairly nice place right across the street. Hope my granddaughter does ok. Anyway, we are going to go to the Atlanta zoo tomorrow, so more heat and walking. Our flight doesn’t leave until 7 pm, so it will be a full day.
I am very glad we came, but I can’t wait to get back to fall!

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LOL...what is fall? :D After nearly 14 months in Florida, I've gotten used to the heat and humidity, but it does get to be draining, I will certainly admit that. We try to get everything done in the morning and stay inside in the A/C in the afternoons. Then we venture out again to walk our dog after dinner. I am looking forward to a taste of fall when we visit NC next month, but I know I'm going to be a real wimp -- haven't experienced temps below 70 in months and months.

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Originally Posted by north woods gal

Emily, I've considered going recumbent a time or two, myself, and I have done test rides on a two wheel version and enjoyed it. This was back when my riding was almost exclusively on a drop bar road bike and I was developing a pinched nerve in my back from riding in the same position, hour after hour. Had a friend that rode a recumbent and he swore by it. I could usually beat him up hills, but he would usually beat me down the hills. On the level sections, it was a draw. Those things are a lot faster than they look when you ride side by side with one.

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Yeah, I've actually owned a recumbent before, many years ago, a heavy long-wheelbase one, which was killer to ride up the hills in NC (though screaming fast downhill). It wasn't suitable for riding with a bike club because of that characteristic, which we were doing a lot of in those years, so I traded it in. This was long before I fractured my pelvis, I just thought having a recumbent would be fun -- and it was, in some ways. Like you say, there are pros and cons for sure -- cost, storage and transportability, visibility, and certainly availability in a place like Mexico. Chances are, it won't end up happening anyway, but it's something I keep thinking of. It may be another 10 years before I pull the trigger on one -- and who knows where we'll be then! :D

Crankin, I do get it about that heat and humidity. Check my posts about our recent Florida visit back over labor Day week. You really, really have to go slow and give yourself time to acclimate to that heat. It can be a killer - literally - for us northerners who push too hard. My first ride, this year, was a whopping 6 miles and it wiped me out. By the end of the week, though, I could manage 20 miles, but ONLY if I drank water, a lot of water. As Emily says, everyone did the outdoor thing early in the morning, down there.

Have to say, though, that I wouldn't complain if we had some of that heat up here, today. Highs in the 40s at ride time. We actually cut our ride short because we didn't dress, right. Hubby had no gloves and was very uncomfortable. Called it quits after only a couple miles, then I spent the rest of the day doing trail work, removing rocks, debris, roots and anything that could trip up a standard MTB. Three hours of that and I was really pooped.

I did live in FL for almost 5 yrs, so I know how you can acclimate. My DIL said she doesn’t go out after 11 am, but I give her a pass, since she is 8 months pregnant. Fayetteville won’t be any better, so we will plan our visits accordingly. She goes to see her family a lot, in Philly, and it is easier for us to just drive there to visit. I guess what I like about New England is that the weather is so changeable. Even the winter cold has varaiations, and it is not as long of a winter as in the Midwest. The months of relentless heat is what I hated about AZ, too. Same every day.
My sore throat is gone, now just a head cold, but I am not sneezing or achy.

Hard to believe that this is the last day of September, but I guess it really shouldn't surprise me. The weather sure feels like it. Cloudy, today, but the clouds thinned enough for me to almost see some sunshine. Cold, though. Had to go leggings, scarf, gloves and a cap under the helmet. Brrr! Figured I better ride while I could, because rain, again, tomorrow.

Finished the month strong with 24 miles on the Log Lady. 22 miles were pavement and two, just for a little variety, were on my trails. Will get around to changing the gearing on this Log Lady to more optimal road gearing, once the other Log Lady is complete. Way too slow on the flats, but love the way it climbs so easily. Does make for a nice relaxing neighborhood ride bike, since it's all gentle hills and no flats in our immediate neighborhood. :)

Overall, September was a good month for me. Got back into my bicycling groove, compared to August, which was a rebuilding month after the accident. On to October. Hope it warms a little, though. My body is still in summer mode.

Hello everyone!

I've gotten in a couple more rides of late. After way too many rainy days, we finally got a break last week. I rode on a rail trail with friends on Friday, about 26 miles in all. It was the shakedown ride with the new rear wheel. Everything went well, the weather was fine, and we went out to lunch afterwards.

Sunday was a century ride organized by a bike club in the area, and I planned to do the metric (which was really 67 miles). It was another beautiful day. I rode with someone who has not ridden for much of the summer due to health problems, and we started kinda fast and then slowed down in the second half. I was actually feeling pretty tired near the end. With about 3 miles to go, I tried to shift to a larger cog while going up a short steep hill, but the chain overshifted and got stuck between the cassette and the spokes of the new wheel. So I ended up calling SAG for a ride back to the start. The next day I took the bike to the shop, where they took enough things part to get the chain unstuck, reassembled everything and adjusted the derailleur. Fortunately the spokes on the new wheel were not damaged by the chain. My next ride will be tomorrow night. I am hoping to move on from all this rear-wheel related drama!

As for the possible new bike, from the rewards program at work... I am undecided. The trade-in value on the new hybrid is less than I had hoped, under $400, even though it is brand new and never ridden. If I trade it in for the gravel bike, it will be a significant out-of-pocket cost for me. And then there would be the necessary accessories, like pedals, a better saddle, water bottle cages, etc. Yes I would get good use from the gravel bike (in addition to fenders and rack mounts for wet or cold weather, it can hold FOUR water bottles, which would be great on summer rides in areas where convenience stores are few and afar between). Yes I have the money. But I really was not planning to spend that much money on a new bike right now. I will probably go ahead and get it, but need to think about it some more, to become comfortable with it.

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

Could you sell it on Craigslist for more?

What type of hybrid is it?

Actually, what year, make, and model is it? I'll look it up.

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2018 Trek Zektor 3. The Kelly's Blue Book value is $365.

After a crap day at work today, I am going to order it and use it toward a new gravel bike. Life is short, might as well have fun on weekends.

I will delay some of the accessory purchases until next year, maybe ask for some for Christmas, to minimize the immediate expense. Right away I will need pedals, 2 bottle cages and a saddle. I can use seat and handlebar bags that I already have, though I expect to want to get larger ones later. I can also delay the fender purchase; in the short term I should be able to use the easy on/off Race Blades that I already have. I can also use the existing Garmin and lights, and I have an old frame pump or two lying around. Not sure if I will want different tires right away -- I don't know if the ones that come on the bike (Schwalbe G-One Allround 700x35c) will slow me down too much on pavement.

Tire question: if you switched to a wider version of the same tire brand and model, would you expect to ride slower? For example, a Gatorskin 32 vs 28 or 25?

I switched from Gatorskin 23s to 25s with no difference. However, my Ariel has 38s, so that with the added weight of the bike, does slow me down. I think if I rode the bike all of the time, it would improve.

N.Y., it's mostly a matter of the added weight on the wider tires that becomes a factor, but the difference between a 25 and a 28 or 32 is pretty minimal and you can easily compensate for this by choosing a lighter model of tire. Better yet, if you go tubeless, you can actually reduce weight with a 32 if you are now running tubes in the narrower tires. I go tubeless on all my bikes, now.

Assuming equal weight and roughly similar rolling resistance, a wider tire can actually increase your speed, since going wider also means going taller on your wheel diameter. If you're looking at gravel bikes with those 700x35 class tires, tread design is going to be a big factor. If you plan to ride a lot of pavement, don't get too aggressive on the tread.

Back when I was riding drop bar road bikes, my average speed riding on pavement did not change much, if at all, between my carbon Domane with 700x28s and my Salsa Warbird (great gravel bike) aluminum with 700x35s. Can't remember the exact tires I had on the Warbird, but they were fairly smooth in the center with a row of knobs on the sides that didn't touch the pavement unless I went into a low turn. When I went into sand, though, those side lugs made a huge difference. I could ride the Warbird in sand and loose stuff whereas I absolutely could not ride the Domane with its usual road slicks in loose stuff. What I loved about the Warbird, most, though, was that it was noticeably more comfortable to ride on rough pavement and probably safer, too, with those wider tires. Don't miss the Domane at all, but I do miss that Warbird. It was a very capable bike.