Super soupy weather for my bike ride this morning. I rode to Odenton and back, with a quick detour into PVSP, for a total of just over 30 miles. The weather was mostly cloudy and in the 70s, with a dewpoint around 72. I tried out one of my new Sweathawg helmet liners, and it worked great!! I bought two of these, one regular and one ‘X2’ (with a thicker absorbent brow pad). I first tried the X2 in my road bike helmet with the fabric visor also in place, and it was a tiny bit too tight, so I put the regular in and rode with that. I was out for right around 3 hours, and didn’t get a single drop of sweat in my eyes. I’ll use the X2 in my mountain bike helmet, where I expect it’ll fit fine. I tend to sweat more on my MTB, so the extra thickness will come in handy there. I also may end up ditching the visor on the road bike helmet, as it blocks more of my upper field of vision than I would like, and I found my neck getting a little stiff today because I likely was tilting my head upward to compensate. The next time I ride on a sunny day, I’ll try the helmet without the visor and see how it works. Without the visor, I think the X2 liner would fit fine, although based on today’s experience, I may not need it for road riding. Once I’m set on which type I’ll be using more, I may end up buying another of these. They’re well worth the money if they can keep my eyes from burning on warm/humid days.

Well, after a cool start to summer, good old Mid-Atlantic heat and humidity is back with a vengeance. Today was a pretty run-of-the-mill ride in to work along a route I’ve ridden probably a thousand times through PVSP and Halethorpe/Arbutus. The only thing worth noting is that for the first time in 10 years, I have a new helmet. It is a Smith Network road bike helmet. A few weeks back, I also bought the MTB helmet at the same price point, which is called the Session. The Network is maybe a few grams heavier than my old Bell Sweep helmet, but (like the Session) it has a MIPS system that is supposed to reduce rotational impact forces on the head during a crash. Both helmets use the same pads, which will be convenient when it comes time to replace them. The Session has a plastic visor (which seems to be standard issue on MTB helmets) and the Network comes with a fabric visor, similar to a baseball cap brim, which attaches between the front pad and the MIPS shell.

Today was my first ride with the Network. As I mentioned earlier, it was soupy out (mid-70s with a dewpoint in the upper 60s). The first thing that I noticed was that more sweat was dripping down my face than with my old helmet, which had a beefier front pad. This really wasn’t a huge issue, though, as the sweat seemed to wick to the sides and away from my eyes. After an hour of riding, the pad reached saturation and I did start to get some dripping in the front, but this happens with me with every helmet. I also frequently have issues with sweat dripping into my eyes and burning, but had no problems with that today. Weather permitting, I’ll get to test the helmet again during the ride home, which will be shorter but likely hotter.

A day or two ago, I ordered a couple of helmet liners from SweatHawg to use with these helmets. They are supposed to attach to the velcro points inside the helmet (in place of the pads) and help to keep the sweat out of my eyes. They’re also washable, so I’m hoping they’ll be easier to keep clean than the helmet pads. I’m a little bit worried about how they’ll affect fit and ventilation, but I am optimistic that they will work out.

I’m back at the shore this week, and as always, have been exploring the area a lot by bike. For the past couple of years, I’ve brought my single speed road bike. It’s perfect for the coast, because everything is flat, so there’s really no need for multiple gears. At home in the Patapsco Valley, I ride a 42/20 gear ratio. I kept the same ratio the past two years at the shore, but it was way too low for the flat terrain. On a long, flat stretch with a tailwind, I felt like I was spinning like crazy and not going anywhere. This year, I changed to a 42/16. I already had a 16-tooth freewheel sitting around, so all I had to do was put it on the bike and take a link out of the chain (a SRAM PC-1 that is at least 7 or 8 years old and still going strong). It made a huge difference. It takes a little bit more effort to get going, but once the bike is moving, I can go a lot faster and cover longer distances more efficiently. With a good tailwind, the gearing still feels a tad low, but I think that if I went any taller than 42/16, it would make uphill slopes and headwinds a bit of a chore. I may change my mind again down the road, but it seems pretty good the way it is now.

The only thing that might be a pain is when I get home and have to switch back to 42/20, because I’ll need to add a link back to the chain. I may just keep a second chain around that I can swap in and out along with the freewheel, but either way, I’ll need to break both chains to swap them on and off the bike. Sounds like a pain either way, but if it’s only once a year or so, it might not be too bad. I guess we will find out.

I took the mountain bike out today for the first time in almost 2 months. I normally love mountain biking in the winter, but conditions have to be right. Ideally, you want frozen trails with little to no snow or ice. I know of people who love going out in the snow, but it’s not my thing. Unfortunately, most of February was icy, wet, and slushy, making for terrible trail conditions. The weather finally took a turn in the first part of March, when we had a very long stretch without any precipitation. This morning, I finally ventured out, and I’m glad I did. The trails were in the best shape that I had seen in at least a year. The term “Hero Dirt” is often used to describe ideal trail conditions for riding, and that’s what we had today. The trails were hard packed and dry, but not dusty, and there was no mud to be found anywhere. I’m off this week for spring break, so I took advantage of my extra time and rode for around 2 hours. I rode Morning Choice Trail, Garrett’s Pass, Vineyard Spring Trail, a bit of Santee Branch Trail, Soapstone, Starstruck, and Ridge Extension/CJS, before finally heading home via Rockburn Branch Trail. I saw a few hikers, but curiously, no other riders. That’s unusual, even on a Monday morning with the temperature hovering around freezing.

Another strange thing I noticed this morning was that in spite of the lack of recent rain, Soapstone Branch was running pretty high and fast — enough to make the pavement wet underneath the railroad tracks in the Glen Artney Area. Most of the small creeks that cross Soapstone Branch Trail also had a pretty healthy flow, which made me wonder what was up. I’ve seen Soapstone Branch raging during a water main break in Catonsville, but it wasn’t running that high today. I suppose it could have been a smaller break somewhere uphill, but I’ll probably never know.

Anyhow, it was great to get out on the MTB again today.

This has not been a particularly cold winter, but it has been extremely icy. When I was commuting to work every day, I rode my bike regularly, even in icy weather. Nowadays, there’s less incentive to venture out, so I haven’t been biking as much. I still get out about once a week, and I’ve substituted with other activities like running and climbing, but in general, I’ve been home and indoors a lot this winter, and am getting a tad stir-crazy. My treadmill desk helps to keep me sane, as it gives me a great option to get exercise while working, but on the flip side, it’s a further disincentive to go outdoors. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, though: spring is around the corner, and I may get to start returning to the office later this year (fingers crossed on that one). When the weather warms a bit (or the ice melts), I’m hoping to do more kayaking this year, and I’m also considering trying out solo top-roping. More on that later, I’m sure.

It’s getting to the time of year where I start thinking about spring maintenance on my winter beater bike. I checked last week and found that it was in need of a new chain. I try to be pretty good about replacing chains before they wear out, because it saves money in the long term by extending the life of my cassettes and chainrings. This is really important with an expensive drivetrain like the GX Eagle on my MTB. Parts are a little bit cheaper for my winter bike (an old 1993 Specialized Rockhopper), but can be harder to come by due to the bike’s age, so I try to squeeze as much life out of them as possible. I’ve had the same cassette and rings on the Rockhopper for a number of years, so I looked at them closely the other day, and it appeared that they might be worn out. So, I contacted my LBS for a new cassette and middle ring. To my surprise, they had a 7-speed SRAM cassette and a 38T Hyperglide chainring in stock — both of them exact matches. I bought both of them for a sum total of about $28. I brought them home and compared them to the old parts, only to find that the latter weren’t as worn out as I had thought. The thing with these components is that the teeth aren’t perfectly symmetrical (I think it’s to improve shifting performance) and to an untrained eye, this can be mistaken as wear. So, I can get some more life out of the old parts, and when the time does come to replace them, I’ll have new parts on hand.

Anyhow, once I’m done with the Rockhopper, I’m going to move on to the MTB, which needs a good tear-down and cleaning. It’s been a horrible winter for mountain biking, so I really haven’t ridden it much in the past couple of months. I’m hoping that this year will not be as wet as the second half of 2020.