It's August! Riding through the heat.

[north woods gal]

Sheila, an encounter with someone who caused a decrease in your enjoyment of riding is a serious matter. I hope isn't a permanent thing. PM me if you think I can help.

Worked hard - as in some heavy labor - on a section of trail, yesterday, removing some rocks and nasty roots. My neck and body managed it, though I fell asleep in my chair, last night. It's all part of my ongoing project to make my trails safer and more comfy to ride. I'm hoping to be able to ride MTBs with standard width 2.25" tires with minimal risk on selected sections of my trail. That will still leave some sections that are really plus or fat bikes, only sections. I still enjoy a casual ride in the woods with the Log Lady single speed or other "skinny" tire bikes. Despite the recent heat, I'm already seeing signs of fall. That's a reminder that I will be going fat bike, only, for my riding soon enough. Oh, well, this will be a summer I will never forget.

[north woods gal]

Reached a an encouraging milestone, this morning. For the first time since my accident, I wads able to complete over 5 miles of trail riding. That was my usual workout before the accident. Better yet, I did it on the single speed Log Lady with its 2.25" tires and my neck managed it just fine. My legs, too. Took it slow and easy and, especially, safe, but I'm now confident of riding standard MTBs on the trail, again. Just have to be aware of how to ride safely with these standard width tires. After all, the Log Lady is a racing MTB and it is designed for trail riding. Just last week I was wondering if I had the LL geared a bit too high for my trails. Not today, though. Gearing was just right.

Fall like weather, today. Highs only in the 60s with a brisk north wind. Even had to wear leggings and a sweatshirt to be comfy. I think that helped me climb some hills with the single speed, though.

[emily_in_nc]

Sounds like you had a great ride, nwg. Fantastic!

We did our usual ride today, and it was fine, but still hot and humid. No signs of fall here yet, but that is to be expected. Actually, there is one sign, and that is no kids on the trail during the week now that school is in. A nice change! Ended up with 34.7 miles, followed by a nice cool down in the pool, even though it's not especially refreshing right now -- at least it's cooler than riding.

[Crankin]

My Ariel is built! DH thought he would be finished on Sunday, but because my bike is so small, the rack needed some special clamps to be attached, so it doesn't fly around. They came today, and DH had just finished putting them on when I got home. Of course, it is going to rain torrentially tomorrow morning, so I am going to the gym. But, it might be OK to test it out in the afternoon. I am hoping to ride it to work Thursday, but given my shaky transitions to new bikes/geometry, I need to ride it a bit before I head into traffic, even for a 2.6 mile ride. I'll also be home early enough to maybe test it on a dirt road near me.

[Crankin]

Hoping I can out between rainstorms today, even if it's riding around my cul-de-sac. I have a lot of personal business to attend to today, which includes a spin/conditioning class at 8:30, catching up with friends about vacation, and getting to my endocrinologist for my Prolia injection. I will take pictures in the basement, if I have to.

[north woods gal]

Sheila, my romance with the Jones bars was short lived. I found that the Jones bars have too much sweep for me to be comfortable. The Jones with its 45 degrees of sweep actually required me to bend my wrists from their natural position when reaching for the handlebars. That and I found that the actually H bar cross section was too short and narrow to use for alternate riding positions. Great idea, but just didn't wok for me. If you want one, be glad to let you have mine. Let me know.

On the other hand, I found the new Surly Moloku with its 34 degrees of sweep to be perfect, plus I can get some very useable positions for riding on the cross brace. It's now standard on all Surly flat bar touring bikes. Great design. I liked the Moloku so much I even added one to the old Pugsley. Unlike the Jones, the Moloku also works very well for my trail riding. I can ride my single track very well with it. The Jones was like trying to ride single track with a 50s cruiser bike. Hated it it for trail work.

The one disadvantage with the Moloku is the weight, if you're trying to count grams, because it is made of steel, not aluminum. Of course, if we Surly nuts were worried about counting grams, we wouldn't be riding Surly, anyway.

As for stems, I always have to go a touch shorter on standard traditional unisex bikes like a Surly. Right now, I'm using a Salsa Bend 2 with 23 degrees of sweep for a handlebar on my Krampus with a very short 45mm Race Face stem. Went that short, this summer, to keep me more upright while my neck healed, but need to go back to maybe a 60 or 65mm, now, to get me into optimum trail riding position. The medium Krampus came with a 70mm stem from the factory. Just a touch too long for my short torso. Unless I'm buying a WSD bike, my rule of thing on stem length is to subtract 10mm for stem length on more traditional bikes like the Surly. Most current high tech MTBs, like my Norco fatties, already come with very short stems, so not always an option for me.

[Crankin]

OK, I had quite an experience for my first ride on the Ariel. As I said, I had a lot of stuff to do, and when I got home, it was around 2:45. It rained torrentially in the morning, when I did a 1/2 spin, 1/2 conditioning class this morning, but by the time I got home, showered, did she work and ate lunch, it was sunny, oppressive, and humid, although only around 75. I looked at the radar and it said it would rain around 3:45; my plan was to just go out and ride in the neighborhood next to my street. There's rolling hills and flats and there's a trail that goes up to the health club I used to belong to, and then that street intersects with Main St., so it would be a 3 mile loop, or more, if I rode al of the neighborhood streets. I figured if it rained, I would never be more than 1.5 miles from home. So, I go to the furthest point in the neighborhood, about to get on the trail, to test the front shock, I felt a rain drop. With no warning, other than that, it started raining torrentially. No thunder or lightning, so I just turned around and headed back the way I came. I could not see a thing...
Thankfully, it was not cold. I laughed like a kid and it was kind of fun. The disc brakes work great. I had to kind of get used to trigger shifters again. It does feel heavy. No speed records will be set on this bike, but I did get up to 13 on the flats and 17 on a little downhill. The rack and trunk bar do add some heft.
I am not sure why this picture is rotated!