After a lazy Saturday of not much riding, I made the executive, and oh so correct, decision to NOT watch my (adopted) Spurs get their asses handed to them by the dreaded Man U. today. Instead I opted to get out on the Jake (The Snake) with its newly re-mounted WTB Nano 40c tires to get my first true dirt road ride of 2015 in. I gotta tell you, it felt goooood.
I know deep down that rolling 35c and 40c tires on the dirt roads is much more efficient than using my El Mariachi and 2.1 mountain bike tires. Knowing that didn’t stop me from using the E.M. for nearly 98% of my 2014 dirt & gravel road rides dude to some back pain and comfort on the Jake. This season I have decided to force myself to become reacquainted with my Jake (The Snake) and as it turns out, a little bit of tough love with myself and giving those 40c Nanos the chance they deserved was all I really needed to once again enjoy the pleasures of rolling skinny (ish) on dirt.
The climb in the distance had so much soft sand, I had to loop around for a second (successful) attempt.
The Nano’s have max PSI of 60, but that would have been way too much for the dirt and gravel roads here that are ripe with pot holes and ruts from the winter. However, since I am of “hearty stock” I didn’t want to go TOO far below the recommended PSI. In the end I rolled them at 50 psi. That was still probably too much, but since I’m running tubes, I figured I would error on the side of too much air and adjust as the season–and my patience to fix pinch flats along dirt roads–progressed.
The gingie bull was unimpressed with me.
This week has been above average for riding. I have to say, I really didn’t see that coming. It seemed like just two weeks ago I was struggling to get out once or twice a week in subzero temps. This past week I got out for three “real” rides along with a day on the trainer. While I didn’t see it coming, I am NOT going to bitch about it.
The trees are once again rocking their catheter bags.
It’s been awesome to get out this week and I can only hope that the coming week will offer the same opportunities. I am of course a pessimist realist and know that this IS March in Michigan, which means we could still get five more snow storms before summer arrives in July.
There were a few deer out and about today.
I wouldn’t dare say that I am in “race shape” (I would have to plan on racing for that to even be considered), but I am feeling pretty good on the bike right now. I have to credit that with a winter of riding the fatty. My hope now is that I can continue to get out on the bike an burn off all that winter blubber that was so freaking easy to pack on.
The flatter dirt roads had the most standing water, mud and snow.
It was nice to jump the gun on spring and get a 100+ miles of outside riding in this week. Now it’s time to focus on the coming week, the shit that needs done and when and where I’m gonna squeeze my rides in.
Later.