Monday, February 10, 2014

Single speed, single digits, single lanes

Fresh studs work wonders on hardpacked streets – and are ungainly and awkward on dry pavement.

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Somehow I wound up with a bunch of Kenda tubes for these 26 inch wheels. Kendas are nice and cheap but I’ve been troubled by the seams cracking and splitting, especially when the temperature dips toward minus 10. Seam cracks are impossible to really fix.

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Single speeds are not that bad for winter biking. Given enough slush, mud, grit, and grime, most geared bikes will eventually go single speed on you anyway. The downside is that the Cannondale’s single speed is cogged for city riding, so deep snow, icy hills, and strong headwinds make for a spicy commute.

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Missoula’s legendarily lax street plowing routine, and a recent spate of high-test weather events have produced some memorable biking and Chariot pulling.

Whoa – lookie there. The Clark Fork, totally frozen. (I heard people are ice skating on McDonald Lake.)

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A deep day on Lockwood, looking out to Potomac and Montana 200.

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An after-work run up to the tippy top of Marshall. If you could stand the fact that it was -20, it was actually pretty nice.

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Everybody jump!

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