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Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    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.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    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.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 09-30-2018 at 04:14 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    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.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    Quote Originally Posted by Muirenn View Post
    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.
    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?
    Last edited by ny biker; 10-03-2018 at 02:54 PM.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    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.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    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.

 

 

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