Today is our fifth nice day in a row, a truly rare occurrence this time of year. Not to fear, though, as we’re expecting a return to our usual crappy weather later this week. I took the road bike out, with the initial intention of doing 18 miles through Oella and Catonsville, but I was dragging this morning, so I shortened the ride to 15 miles and went through Patapsco instead. No snow anywhere, although the access road still looks snowy. It’s getting tempting to bring a shovel with me and clear a path. Otherwise I’m going to be riding with hiking boots at least into April.
A week or so ago, I replaced the derailleur pulleys on the road bike, in hopes that it would stop an incessant squeak when I shift. This was my first ride with the new pulleys, and no squeak so far, but I’m not calling it fixed until I’ve been squeak-free for a few hundred miles. The old pulleys didn’t look terribly worn in comparison to the new ones, so I’m wondering if lubrication has something to do with this. I made sure to grease the bushings when I put the new pulleys in. We’ll see I guess. The front derailleur is going to be the next challenge.. seems like no matter how I set the cable, it’s either too tight (trouble shifting onto smaller chainrings) or too loose (chain rubs derailleur cage when the rear is shifted onto a small cog). Maybe it’s bent?