Time to delurk, new to Alaska and bike choice paralysis

[Catrin]

Yup, I got the Sutra. After test-riding a Trek 520, very similar to the Sutra but feeling a bit more hard work and not quite as nice for reasons that escape me.

Here we are! (And no, I didn't ride through the slush. I loaded her into the car and drove out to a trailhead with parking lot, and we spent our first 10 miles together.)

(Let me know if the image doesn't show up...)

Congratulations, she is beautiful indeed! Are you going to name her?

[chryss]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I'm not sure about naming - my inanimate beloved objects usually get something like a moniker more than a name. Like my car (only the second one I've ever owned because living in European capitals in a one-person household you don't really need one), which goes by "Chris's Alaskamobile". We'll see about the Sutra.

I'm thinking of taking off the front rack until I actually need it. The back rack might be useful for my Ortlieb paniers.

The local cycling club for Fairbanks has two women's groups that do weekly road rides. One "easy to moderate", which sounds like just the ticket. They start up this week, and I'm thinking of checking them out. I can feel my sitbones this morning .

The snow's disappearing fast. We'll have a week of slushy mud but then it should be improving at least away from the rivers and ponds. Though mosquitos should only be days away.

[Pax]

Nothing to add bike-wise, but have to say cool about Fairbanks! My folks met and married in AK back in 1956.