so on saturday i drug my kids out to the bike shop, so i can see what's on sale. my poor kids, used to really enjoy going there, but it seems recently some of their passion for going to the bike shop has worn off. although i didn't buy any at the time, i was mostly looking to buy some panniers so i can start adventure riding. since it is currently fall season, and in cycling that translates into cyclocross season, the bike shop had a few things on display for the cyclocross racer. since i am an ex-cyclist, i was kind of drawn over to one cross bike that they had on display. wow.... fat tires on a road bike. recently i have been wanting to do put fat tires on my road bike, since my friend rob let me ride his cross bike . when he let me ride his bike i was really impressed with how smooth everything was. but now looking at this cyclocross racing bike on display, i was really excited about throwing fat tires on my road bike.
let me back up for a second. my "road bike" that i am talking about is not really my real road bike. my real road bike does not have room for fat tires, nor does it have holes for racks and stuff. the "road bike" i am talking about is a twenty five year old bianchi san remo. i've had it since i was a teenager, and stopped riding it sometime back in college. a few years back i restored it a little so i could commute to work. at the time i really wanted a rode bike, and this bike was too slow and heavy. i ended up not riding it very much, and back to the garage ceiling it went. now however, i want a well made bike that is really simple, solid, and classic. the fact that it's an old friend helps a lot too!
i bought a set of fat tires and put them on that evening. i rode around and could just tell that something magical was happening. i was so happy that my old bike was rolling again, and i could sense that my old bike was over joyed and ready to take me where ever i wanted. it was really cool. that night i started planning my sunday. i wasn't sure where i wanted to go, but i kind of had a direction in mind.
i ended up going out to the near by lake. i really liked not having a solid plan, it was very different than my usual bike rides where i know where and how far i will ride and what road or trail i will be taking. this time i just headed out in a direction.....
i went through mostly gravel road (which was really cool) to get to the lake. i ran across a few super hero's along the way, and i could tell they didn't really want to wave "hi" to me... retro man. that was really ok with me however. it just proves my point. most people are not out have fun on their bikes, they are out for either exercise, training, or so they can go to work the next day and tell everyone how far they rode. i guess my current high horse is not too much better, because i couldn't wait to get back to work and tell everyone "where" i went...but more importantly "how" i went.
when i got to the lake i saw a map that showed a trail that went around the side of the lake. hmmm.... i wonder how rough this trail will be...
as you can see it was pretty rocky and technical. it's kind of funny, i would have never thought to bring anything but a mountain bike out on this trail... but since the trail was just a small part of a journey, i was really excited to see if my touring bike could make it. i actually didn't care too much about "making it", i was prepared to walk the bike whenever i needed to... i wouldn't have been a big deal. it turned out that i didn't need to walk it very much anyway. i was really surprised to find out how much of the technical stuff i could actually do. my wheels stayed straight, i stayed on the bike and everything couldn't have gone better. i did have a small pedal problem.. i left the toe clips on and they were difficult to get into. i took them off out on the trail, but that only helped a little bit, since these were road pedals only one side had grip and the other was a smooth rod, which wasn't very easy to keep my feet on. i also had to adjust the seat height, and the brake pads(since i had put them on backward, by mistake). other than that it was a mechanical problem-free trip.after i got around the lake i stopped at a small store. i bought some food and ate it outside the store. that's not really a very exciting part of the trip, nor was the food choice all that good. however, i mention this because there was one really cool part that i am pretty excited about... i stepped off my bike and walked into the store. no unclipping.. no clicking... no revealing lycra suit! just me my regular shoes, regular clothes, and a regular attitude.
the weather was just starting to sprinkle and get a little cold, when i left the store. i had a big descent to do next an it was going to be really chilly. it was in fact very chilly, but it didn't last too long and right after the descent i had a pretty big climb which made things seem a bit warm. it was a pretty big climb, and i was a bit worried to do it on my old bike, for some reason. i used to do workouts on this hill with my rode bike, and it was a pretty tough climb, from what i can remember. now, however, i wasn't in a big hurry so i just slowly climbed this thing with no problem at all.
when i got to the top there was a lake called pinewood reservoir. there i also found a pretty sweet single track trail, that went around that lake. here is apicture of part of the trail. you can kind of tell how cloudy things were getting from the mountain in the background.
it seemed like it was getting colder every minute. since this trail was much more friendly that the first trail, so i could ride more of it. and since i was riding i didn't think too much about how cold it was getting.
when i finished the trail i just headed back home. i had been out for more that 6 hours. if it weren't for my sore butt, it would have felt like two hours. theride back home was very cold, and i could feel my body temperature dropping. i was shivering quite a bit as i rode down the mountain. i don't think i was going very fast, because i was trying to keep the wind chill down. when i got back to town, it was not nearly as cold there, and my attitude when back into thinking that i had nothing but fun.
i actually did have a ton of fun. i don't know how much of it was new bike experience fun, and how much of it was fun, because i was exploring places i hadn't been. i think it was a little bit of both, but i also think they are kind of the same thing. the fun part of an adventure is not knowing what to expect....
No comments:
Post a Comment