The weather's made it difficult to keep up on the outdoor training rides, but on Monday, I brought my riding gear so I could get in at least a modest ride on the way home. I tend to waaaay over-prepare for winter rides, resulting in my studded-tire winter bike topping 45 pounds including water, light systems, bags and extra clothing. But hey, it's training, right?☺ Bring it, gravity!
Reflecto-Bike, plastered with high-performance Reflexite V82 prismatic tape
I took along my Canon A610 digicam and grabbed a few video clips along the way, for our faithful readers' amusement and/or encouragement. My wobbly handheld videos have inspired comparisons to The Blair Witch Project, but I have plans to get a proper bike camera this Spring, maybe a ContourGPS.
I also had my GPS along (Garmin Edge 500), and imported the ride into Topofusion Pro afterwards. If this type of thing interests you, Topofusion has a no-time-limit demo version that just overlays "Demo" on 20% of the map, so give it a try with your GPS.
Topofusion Pro is mechBgon-approved ☺
Looking at the forecast, I'm speculating the Hangman Loop will be road-bike-friendly again by Wednesday, although a seatpost fender or RaceBlades seem prudent. Post your updates in the Comments if you've got a firsthand report to share.
mechBgon
Amazing, Tom! Did anyone else notice the average speed on the flats - in the snow, dark, cold on a 45 pound bike? And that was the commute home after working a full day. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteTom, you appear to be fullly on board with pogies. Cool. I tried them a coupla years ago but couldn't get past the "shackled" feeling. Kept envisioning breaking the fall with my face.
ReplyDeletePat, I know what you mean about the pogies. They're a mixed blessing, especially when I'm trying to signal turns or lane changes in city traffic. In the end, I started the ride with them stowed in my panniers, and threw them on around 9PM when I stopped to put on more layers.
ReplyDeleteThis ride reminded me of Churchill's famous quote: If you're going through hell... KEEP GOING.
Tom, That Topofusion program is very, very cool. I am looking forward to checking that out.
ReplyDeleteRider 3
In the liberally paraphrased words of The Bike Snob, "so what if you're not riding a Madone on your workout; you're riding THREE Madones on your workout."
ReplyDeleteSteve