May flowers... and bike rides

[Pax]

Sometimes I forget how beautiful the UP is.

[north woods gal]

Thanks, Pax. We're actually on the Wisconsin side, less than an hour from the Wisconsin/UP border. Same country.

[Pax]

Used to drive through there a couple of times a year, skied at Copper Peak in the winters and camped on a lake near Iron Mountain in the summers. Friends parents had a cabin up there, caught a legal muskie the first time I tried fishing... seemed to upset her dad and older brother a lot. LOL

[north woods gal]

Ha! I'll bet it did. That musky fishing is a BIG deal, up in this area.

[north woods gal]

Mostly a sweet ride on this beautiful May day, with a little of the bitter thrown in and maybe some doubts, too.

32 miles of pavement work was sweet. So was seeing my first bear of the year, crossing the road about 100 yards ahead of me. What a thrill! Sweet seeing a couple other riders to there on the road, too.

The not so sweet was having to cut down the 4 miles of gravel road I planned into my route to only 1.5 miles. Have ridden the Salsa Warbird road bike with its 700x40 tires on this well-maintained gravel loop many times. Unfortunately, this same loop was a little too well maintained, this time, with fresh, loose gravel. This is a worst case scenario for a gravel road biker. The tires sink down in that loose gravel, then suddenly smack that hard surface below at an angle and the bike seems to explode out from under you without warning. After 1.5 miles, I was a basket case of nerves. Bailed out and opted for the pavement, rather than turn off onto the next gravel road.

Last time out, I called it exactly right by choosing the Surly fat bike (which would have been the right bike, this time, too). Called it wrong with the Warbird road bike, today, and its 700x40 tires. That's gravel/dirt/sand road biking for you. Just when you think you've got it figured out ... you haven't.

Another not so sweet surprise was re-dscovering how much I hate riding over those road cracks on paved roads, compliments of riding on high pressure tires via the road bike, again. Ouch! Never even notice them when riding fat bikes or plus tire mountain bikes on pavement. In like manner, also not so sweet re-discovering how my hands were getting much more numb on the road bike, today, versus the fat bike on pavement, last time. Even with gloves, was constantly switching hand positions and shaking the hands to improve circulation. Honestly, the loss of ride comfort by switching back to the road bike, today, was really irritating. Even dropping the tire pressure didn't help much, either for working the gravel or the comfort level.

Am I crazy to just trade off the road bike and go fatter tire only bikes, even for pavement? Sure, the road bike is faster on a long ride. Gets me a higher average speed (though not all that much). On a fat bike or plus tire MTB I'd end up be an embarrassing straggler on a group ride, but I haven't done a group ride in many years and old lone wolf me is not likely to do those anytime, soon. I'm retired, so not schedule to keep, either. What's the hurry? Have I reached the end of the road, so to speak, with my two road bikes? Maybe.

[Crankin]

Keep the road bike, even if you don't ride it that often. Maybe look at different gloves or changing the position of your bars. I had the same issue with my flat bar Jamis Coda, but I am still sorry I sold this bike. I used it on errands, commuting, farm store rides, but it could hold its own with others. It was heavier and slowed me down a little, but I always felt good after a ride on it.

[north woods gal]

Thanks. Yeah, probably best to keep it, given that it can do things the fatter tire bikes can't do and, as most of us know, it's almost impossible to get even close to getting your money back when you sell a bike.

Yuck! Looks like three or four straight days of rain and thunderstorms in our area, according to the forecast and it is raining, right now. Well, we do need the rain and there are worse things than having to ride indoors.