This and That

I just ordered new tires for my road bike.  I’ve been running Continental GatorSkins on it for the past several years, and the front tire has lasted almost 4500 miles, with the back not too far behind.  I’ve had maybe 2 or 3 flats on these tires the entire time I’ve had them, but the sidewalls are starting to wear through to the threads, which means they’re about done.  I’ve been extremely pleased with the longevity, durability, and ride quality of these tires.  I’m replacing them with a very similar tire, the Continental Gator Hardshell.  The Hardshell purports to have even better flat resistance, so we’ll see how they do.  The GatorSkins set the bar pretty high.  Size-wise, I was initially going to go with 700c x 25, but I ended up staying with 700c x 23.  I’m running full fenders on this bike again, and it’s enough of a challenge keeping them from rubbing with 23s.  Wider tires would only make it worse.

I’ve had to shelve my fixed-gear bike for a while.  I think I threw out my hip riding it.  My left hip has been bugging me for a while now, and I noticed that riding the fixed seems to aggravate it.  My doctor says it’s a muscular thing and not doesn’t seem to be joint (arthritis) or nerve (sciatica) related.  I can manage it pretty well by stretching and paying very close attention to my riding form.  Lowering my seat a bit also helped.  I stopped riding the fixed altogether for around 6 weeks, and the hip was improving.  I tried the fixed again around a week ago, and it immediately flared back up.  Not a good sign.  We’ll see where it goes from here, but I may be looking at some time off from riding to rehab the hip, and possibly getting rid of the fixed gear bike.