Through The Winter -3

[RLK]

I'm going to keep riding. Yes its -3 right now at 9 am. I'll be at work by 9:30 after riding my crazy machine. It snowed about 2 inches yesterday. THe studded tires will return the investment ($40 each) before lunchtime, and tomorrow and throuout the winter. There is money to be made. I don't want to walk to work or ride the bus. Time to put on 8 layers of fleece and my snowsuit.

Through the winter, tell you stories here if you want to.

[bluegoatwoods]

Good for you RLK.

I'd be particularly interested in hearing how those snow tires perform and wear and all that. I'm considering some.

[RLK]

Its kind of hard to wear out studded tires. Not a lot of joy-riding when its like this, only necessary trips. I only ride to work, to the grocery and to the bank; sometimes to a restaurant but its all within 8 miles of home. I'm re-using the one skinny little 26x1.75x1.9 Innova tire I used last year up front on my electric front hub. It spit out a few studs but there is no noticible tread wear.

This year i'm using a Klon**** studded 26x2.10 on the rear as well. I looked in all of the bike shops and asked around. The parts clerks in the shops say they can special order Continential brand studded tires for $90 EACH!!. No thanks. I found this new Klon**** tire at Wal*Mart for $35.

These are the shortest days of the year so it gets dark long before quitting time. There's black ice everywhere but the tires work really well. I can slide and save a fall. I can make emergency stops that would otherwise be a crash. On dry ground the studs are LOUD! But that's a good thing sometimes, people can hear me coming.

Ride safe everybody! How low can you go?

[RLK]

Wow, the autocensor won't let you say Klon****.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klon****_Gold_Rush Sheesh!

[srdavo]

Wow, the autocensor won't let you say Klon****. Klon alaskan gold rush Sheesh!

hahahaha it won't let you say the vice president's name either....lol

**** Cheney

[Alaskavan]

I rode my Trek around a bit yesterday, but I did have a little trouble starting it. At -5F, I couldn't get the clutch to grab, even with the cable disconnected. I ended up taking the bike inside and warming it up a bit. Shouldn't be a problem tomorrow. It's warmed up to 15F outside, and the bike is warming itself by the fire.

[RLK]

Wow. -5 in Haines AK has got to hurt. Its not just cold, its a wet cold. Hats off to, er, on to you Alaskavan. How do you suit up for that?

FWIW, my bike lives in the livingroom on so much newspaper spread across the floor to catch the dripping melting ice and snow. I hope you have a garage for the 3 MBs you list in your sig.

I don't go near oceans, but the rare times I have, my first thought was, "The wind is salty."

[MyPC8MyBrain]

Been riding those Klon d i ke studs here in Colorado. They work really well and you can't beat the price.

Haven't ridden -5f yet, but it was -2f on Monday. Suprisingly, the HT fires right up with a touch of choke.

It's fun passing the lines of traffic trying to get somewhere, but gridlocked on the snow and ice.

[Simonator]

I had to dig myself out of this mess when I left work today! Yes I am completely INSANE! It is a complete white out today.

[bluegoatwoods]

We've had an ice storm. No riding for me today.

But it's also one of my days off. So it didn't work out so badly. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but I'll likely have to drive.