Looking back, I see it’s been just about a year since I started blogging regularly about my bike commutes to work.  One thing is for sure:  Winter is the most interesting time of year to ride, because the varying weather conditions give each ride its own set of challenges.  That starts with figuring out what to wear, and also what gear to pack for the ride home, as conditions can change a lot from morning to evening.  But in addition to that, winter weather conditions can also dictate what route I take to work, to a greater extent than during other times of the year.  Snow and ice on roads are often a factor, but today’s challenge was the wind.  We started out the day in the upper 20s with a brisk west wind.  I wanted to get around 15 miles in this morning, and soon after starting the ride, I realized I was dragging a bit.  Given this, ordinarily it’d be a no-brainer to head through the park and then up through Halethorpe/Relay, because it’s less hilly than the alternative of riding through Catonsville.  However, going through Halethorpe would mean a long uphill grind into the wind, which would have been brutal.  So I elected to do Catonsville instead, where I pick up the same elevation riding east on Edmondson Ave.  The initial climb up Thistle Rd. and Oella Ave. was a bit of a drag, but once I got onto Edmondson Ave., I picked up a tailwind and the remaining uphill climb was (literally) a breeze, in spite of me not being 100%.  The next couple of days look like carbon copies of today, so I might be riding similar routes through Wednesday.

Thought I’d put a plug in for my favorite commuter saddle, the Forté Classic, available at Performance Bike for around $40-50. I bought one of these in 2002 when I initially bought my road bike, because the racing saddle that came with it wasn’t working for me. The Forté Classic seems “just right” in almost every aspect – it’s inexpensive, not too hard, not too soft, not too wide, not too thin, and reasonably light. I find it very comfortable, and it’s still in good shape 8 years later after countless rides in all sorts of weather. I just picked up another one for my second bike, and will likely get one for my mountain bike as well. I’ve never been 100% happy with the saddles on either of those bikes, and I figure I’ll just go with something I know will work for me. The 2010 Classic has slightly different logo design, but other than that, it looks like the same saddle.

I’ve been dialing-in the fit on my second bike, a Masi Speciale Fixed, for awhile now, and I think it’s getting close. So far I’ve raised the bars around 1/4″ by rearranging the head tube spacers; moved the saddle back around 3/4″; and replaced the stock saddle with a Forté Classic. It’s now much more comfortable for me than it was this past summer. The bullhorn bars are at just about the perfect height for standing climbs. The only thing I’m missing is a comfortable upright sitting position. When I’m sitting upright, I still feel like the reach to the bars is a little too far. It seems to me I can remedy this by getting an extender to raise the bars another couple inches, and then switching to a set of mustache bars. My hope is that the “drop” on the mustache bars would put the bar ends at roughly the same height as the bullhorns on my current bars, while the middle of the bars would be higher for more comfortable upright riding. We’ll see how that works out.

After not working a single 5-day work week in November, I have 3 straight full weeks of work between now and the extended Christmas break, starting today.  Weather (and health) permitting, I’m hoping to turn that into 15 rides.

This morning was my first ride of the season that truly felt like winter.  It was sunny and in the upper 20s.  I rode around 17 miles, out to New Cut Rd. and through Patapsco State Park.  I wore a head band for the first time of the season.  There were a couple spots where my chin got cold (mainly going downhill) and I could have used a balaclava.  I did bring a balaclava, and almost stopped and put it on, but most of the ride was comfortable enough without it.

It’s been a bad autumn for jackets.  One of my main winter jackets is a Performance “Transformer” hi-vis shell with zip-off sleeves.  The zipper on one of the zip-off sleeves broke, and no longer engages, so the jacket is only good as a vest now.  It’s a cheap jacket, but all the same, it’s only 2 years old, so I’m a bit disappointed with it.  Over the break, I may dust off my sewing skills and try to see if I can replace the zipper.  In the meantime, I’m getting by by wearing the vest over an old dark green windbreaker, which works OK but adds an extra layer that I don’t always want.  On top of that, I lost my Marmot rain jacket last month.  Yesterday I went to our new REI and bought a Patagonia Torrentshell jacket to replace it.  It’s a similar jacket, maybe slightly better made, and it was also available in a brighter shade of green than the Marmot, which should help with visibility on the bike.  Based on the weather forecast, it’ll likely see its first action tomorrow.

I’m beginning to notice a trend.  The more often I ride my fixed-gear bike, the more comfortable it seems to get.  Last week I took my first ride on it in about 3 weeks, and my shoulders and wrists were bothering me after the first half hour.  Now, a week and about 5 rides later, I’m not having the problem any more.

Here’s my theory.  On a fixed gear bike, it’s impossible to coast.  On a bike with a freewheel, you can “take a break” and coast when going downhill.  When coasting, you can support most of your weight with your legs, even if you’re tired.  On a fixed gear, as you get tired, most of that weight ends up going to your arms/shoulders and rear end, particularly when spinning downhill.  As you start to get “used” to riding fixed, your legs start to pick up more of the slack, so the bike gets more comfortable.  My observation is that I start to lose this conditioning with any significant time off the bike (say, more than a week).  So, more so than with other bikes, it’s important to keep riding fixed regularly to maintain conditioning.

I rode on single track Sunday for the first time in around 15 years.  I had forgotten how different it was from road biking.  I woke up Sunday morning with a bit of an upset stomach, so I didn’t want to do anything too strenuous, but I wanted to get out and test-ride my newly rebuilt ’93 Specialized Rockhopper, and I was hoping to find a trail connection between Belmont and Patapsco State Park.  I hopped on the bike and rode from my house out to the Morning Choice Trail head on Landing Rd.  I rode around a mile on the trail, out to just past the northern end of the Belmont property, then turned around.  It was a successful test ride, but I wasn’t able to find a way through Belmont from that area.  It’s all fields.

Compared to my road bikes, the mountain bike felt small, particularly on pavement.  Once I hit the trails, it started to get a bit more comfortable.  I think the frame is a little small for me.  For road riding, I may want to think about a longer seat post.  I rode with standard pedals and Power Grips straps, the same setup I use in snow.  The brakes worked fine; the Kool Stop pads did the job nicely.  The new fork worked fine, although with no suspension, the ride was a bit punishing in spots.

I did some more reading online trying to find out about the Belmont trail connection.  Local riders call it the “farm loop.”  Apparently one end of it intersects Morning Choice right near Landing Rd, and the other end ties in with Rockburn Branch Trail further to the east.  It’s an unofficial, un-blazed trail, and the Patapsco trail map has stubs in the spots where the trail appears to intersect “official” park trails.  It looks like the trail cuts across Belmont Woods Rd, so my next time out, I’ll ride down Belmont Woods and try to find the trail from that direction.  All of this is on the south side of Belmont, which explains why I couldn’t find a connection on the north side.

November hasn’t been a very prolific month for riding to work.  Looks like I’m on pace to top February, but that’s not saying much.  I was out the first 2 weeks of the month, and it’s already a shortened month due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  As a matter of fact, weather permitting, I may actually be able to ride more in December, which is saying something.

Still struggling with my fixed-gear bike trying to get it more comfortable.  I’ve been pretty happy with the Forté Classic saddle on my road bike, so I tested it with the fixed, and it seems pretty good.  So I think I’m going to swing by Performance and pick one up.  Then there’s the issue of seating position.  I suspect that with this bike, I’m going to be more comfortable with a more upright seating position.  To that end, I’m going to try raising the bars up a few inches.  To do that, I’ll need a steer tube extender, which can be had for around $20.  And at that point, I’ll probably want to swap out my bullhorn-style bars with a set that has a bit more drop.  I’m considering trying a set of mustache-style bars.  Soma Fabrications makes a nice-looking mustache bar that looks similar to the popular Nitto bar, for around $40 less.  The bike is also going to need a new chain and new tires soon.  It currently has Bontrager Race Lite 700c x 23s, and I’ve been happy with these.  However, considering this is my main winter bike, I’m thinking about switching to a set of Specialized Armadillos, and maybe going up to a 25.  Armadillos are about the most flat-resistant tire on the market.  They’re on the heavy side, but weight isn’t really a concern with me with this bike.  The only concern is whether a wider tire will create clearance issues with my fenders.

Got my old ’93 Rockhopper almost to the point where I’m ready to ride it.  To recap, I’ve replaced the fork, headset, stem, chain, brake shoes, and brake cables, and cleaned and adjusted the hubs, derailleurs and brakes.  I also put a rear rack on it.  This weekend I’m hoping to take it out for its maiden voyage, with the two-fold goal of testing the bike out and finding a quick way into the Patapsco State Park trail network from home.  According to the trail map, it looks like the Morning Choice Trail runs along the back edge of the Belmont property, so the initial plan is to ride into Belmont and try to find the trail.  My eventual goal is to plan a commuting route to UMBC that is mostly single track.  I also want to be able to use the bike for commuting in wet and/or snowy conditions.

Once I get a feel for the bike and re-acquaint myself with the local trails, I’ll add a set of fenders, swap out the platform pedals for SPDs, and possibly also swap out the tires.  I would like to find a set of tires that rides well on both road and dirt, although I’m not sure such a beast exists that doesn’t compromise one for the other.

In other news, I’m back to a weekly commuting routine, at least for the next week and a half, until Thanksgiving.  Today will be my first ride home in the dark, although it’s still early enough that it’ll be mainly dusk/twilight.  The headlight and flashers are ready.

Faithful readers (all 6 of you) may recall that I’m still trying to get the fit right on my fixed-gear commuter bike (a Masi Speciale Fixed).  The initial problem was that I was leaning too hard on my wrists, and they were falling asleep after about 1/2 hour of riding.  Raising the bars 1/4″ or so helped a bit, but not enough.  Next I tried angling the seat back a bit more, to keep me from sliding forward.  That actually helped quite a bit with the wrist numbness, but the stock Masi saddle was uncomfortable in the new position.  I tried swapping it out for a Selle Italia “gel” racing saddle I had lying around, and it was marginally more comfortable, but still not quite what I was looking for.  This morning I tried the saddle from my road bike, a cheap Forté (Performance house brand) “Classic” saddle which I’ve always found comfortable.  The jury is still out, but it seems like we’re getting closer with this one.

One thing to consider, is that the same saddle that’s comfortable on a freewheel bike might not be comfortable on a fixed gear, and vice versa.  With a freewheel, it’s easy to shift weight to the legs while coasting downhill, whereas with fixed gear, the legs spin rapidly downhill and more weight gets shifted to the saddle.  So if anything, saddle comfort is more important with fixed gear than with a freewheel.  I’ve often wondered whether a leather saddle, like a Brooks, might be the thing for fixed.  I’ve hesitated trying one because I’m not crazy about taking an expensive leather saddle out in the rain.

Still also working on the rebuild of my old ’93 Specialized Rockhopper.  It has Dia-Compe 987 cantilever brakes on it, and my initial thought was to swap these out for V-brakes.  However, after some consideration, I think I’m just going to stick with the cantis.  There’s nothing functionally wrong with them, and switching to V-brakes would have also required swapping out the levers.  However, my new fork didn’t have the cable stop needed to use standard cantilevers.  Some net surfing revealed that there are essentially 2 options:  A bolt-on stop that attaches to the brake hole in the fork crown, or a stop that clamps to the steerer tube.  I ended up going with the former, because it puts the stop in roughly the same spot as it was on my old suspension fork, so I should be able to use my existing brake cable housing.  The part is on order and I’ll give it a shot when it arrives.