Tripleshot Cycling

Some thoughts on bad weather riding and maintenance:

Go to bed earlier. Sounds obvious but it helps with getting up. A lot. And how much did you really accomplish after 10 pm anyway? I know I wasted an hour after 10 watching the news and remembering late I forgot to put the washing on.

Have your clothing ready before you go to bed. If you hear rain in the morning, any obstacle like a missing bootie will lure you back to bed. A minute before bed is worth 5 in the am when you're not quite awake.

Focus clothing on extremities: for feet, two pairs of booties may help: I wore neoprene underneath, and goretex from mec on top; toasty warm today. For hands, fleece gloves and shell overgloves or mitts. Better than one piece gloves because they dry faster, can peel when too warm. Cheap plastic jackets are fine.

Don't worry about going hard. If every ride is hard, you'll stop getting up. Reward yourself with easy rides too where you look at the sunrise.

Hose off your bike after every wet ride. Waiting allows dirt to harden. Spraying with a regular garden hose gets rid of the mud, grit and grass that wears parts out, holds moisture to start rust. Especially chain and cassette and rims. Avoid pointing spray right at bearings.

Bounce your bike after to shake the water off, then put somewhere heated to dry. Oil the chain on the top of the bottom run. I use chain saw oil for chains; quieter, won't splatter, cheap. Use lighter oil like teflon lube for pivots and cable entry points. And we know this works; my bikes are old!

Also, wash shoes, right away, so they dry for next ride, and so dirt doesn't harden around the cleat. Remove insoles and dry near a gentle heat source (hair dryer on low, ski boot dryer).

Washing bike and shoes is 5 minutes tops. Don't wait; it will be 30 minutes + when the dirt dries on the bike.

Embrace the bad weather. Celebrate the triumph of getting out the door, and training when others aren't. Look forward to the challenge of dressing to be comfortable, and get over having a polished bike.

Josh.E wrote:where did peters post go?

Josh.E wrote:now why would he do that?

Have we actually become so uptight in this club that we can no longer call out a bunch of pansies who are afraid of the rain(myself included in this case) on the forum for being a bunch of pansies?

Isn't dripping sarcasm and public berating what this club has always been all about from the get go? Isn't Peter being himself on here what helped make this club what it is today?

H'ingTFU is required all the way around.

Josh.E wrote:now why would he do that?

Have we actually become so uptight in this club that we can no longer call out a bunch of pansies who are afraid of the rain(myself included in this case) on the forum for being a bunch of pansies?

Isn't dripping sarcasm and public berating what this club has always been all about from the get go? Isn't Peter being himself on here what helped make this club what it is today?

H'ingTFU is required all the way around.

Quentin wrote:

Josh.E wrote:now why would he do that?

Have we actually become so uptight in this club that we can no longer call out a bunch of pansies who are afraid of the rain(myself included in this case) on the forum for being a bunch of pansies?

Isn't dripping sarcasm and public berating what this club has always been all about from the get go? Isn't Peter being himself on here what helped make this club what it is today?

H'ingTFU is required all the way around.

+1. Peter's post (and the Simon video) were what got me out this morning.

Roland wrote:
I also heard Peter was going to race cyclocross.

Lister Farrar wrote:+1. I think Peter has leader guilt. Post here if you want the post back. I do too.