Back on Track

After a screwed up December, my training is finally back on track; stay away from my weekends snow!
I've got the new commuter bike outfitted with studs and fenders and so far have commuted in 4 times by bike and 3 times by car for 2008, off to a decent start. One of those commutes was on the Pugsley in 8 inches of snow, that took almost twice as long as usual and the shoulder on Wadsworth got down to only 2 foot wide at times. I might reconsider my route or even driving the next time it snows a significant amount, I prefer not to have cars flying by me on snow/ice at 45+ mph with only 2 feet of room in the dark.
I parked the bike outside, and even though the snow stopped I still got a little bit of drifting due to the wind.


Riding at 35 mph with that much snow on the rims is interesting, next time I'll knock it off to give the wheel better balance.


The new commuter bike as I bought it, not bad for $50. This is what I believe is a 1988 Trek 830, smooth steel throughout. The bike has previously been upgraded as it seems to have a sealed cartridge bottom bracket and cranks from 1994ish and an LX drivetrain. It's also a 6 speed so I've got a spare set of wheels (sweet, I'm glad I didn't get rid of those ancient wheels) that I can set up with a second set of tires, smoothies and studs all at with a quick wheel swap.
I haven't done much to it, I'm actually completely surprised at how clean it is and the condition it is in. I've installed fenders, mounted studs and put on a new seat. I didn't get too far into checking out all the internals, I'm saving that to do with Andie as it will be a crash course in advanced bike maintenance before she crews for me at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.

Today was the shakedown ride for the Trek 830, it did ok, but it's about 20 minutes slower on the way in with studs on, not bad, but I need to account for this. Now that it has been ridden I do have some things on the wishlist for it, new shifters (gripshift all the way for this bike) and pogies. I have to run to the local fabric stores to see if I can get cordura nylon there and then go over to the parents place to use mom's sewing machine to make those pogies.