OK, so I wimped out Friday and took the car to work on a day when the weather ended up pretty good. History has shown that when I wimp out on a ride, 9 times out of 10 I end up regretting it, and that knowledge helped get me on the bike this morning, on a day when I came perilously close to wimping out again. The weather this morning was weird. No better word for it. Almost 60°, with winds from the south gusting to 40mph. Lots of rain, especially to our north and south. Baltimore area got plenty too, but it wasn’t raining during my ride, just overcast and damp. Lawyers Hill was blocked by a downed tree which had also taken out some power lines. This would have been a problem had I been driving, but I was able to lift the bike over it. I took a loop through the park, which was debris-strewn, but otherwise passable. The drainage area on Glen Artney Rd (near the Grist Mill trailhead) was a raging torrent. No way I could cross on the bike. Fortunately, there’s a foot bridge nearby that provides a detour over it, so I didn’t have to double back. Beyond the park, the ride was uneventful. I wore full rain gear, but probably could have gotten by without the rain jacket (of course, the rain picked up shortly after I arrived at work).
This was my messiest ride yet on the fixed-gear. I’m still not completely happy with how the rear fender is attached. There’s nowhere to attach it at the bottom bracket, so I have it attached higher up on the seat tube, and it doesn’t extend down quite far enough in the front. As a result, the bottom bracket area gets a lot of spray. On the bright side, at least the bike is easier to clean than the road bike. Single chainring, single cog, no derailleurs to worry about.