It's fair to say that these are the coldest temperatures with which I've ever dealt. I've kind of gotten the hang of riding in the snow and ice. My mom came for a visit at Thanksgiving, and she brought me the rest of my bikes. When the weather is really bad, I can ride my 3-speed. It has 26 x 1 3/8 (590 ISO/650A) tires on it which are nice and wide, and the riding position is very upright which allows the front wheel to wander around in the snow and find its own path. Surprisingly, that seems the best way to handle the snow. I'd learned the trick on a motorcycle years ago when riding over the metal grates on bridges - don't fight the bike and the bike won't fight you (or throw you face first into the ground).
In other news, I got a job at a bike shop. It's worked out to be something chill to do while I figure out what direction I'm going to go in professionally. It has also made updating my bikes a very accessible endeavor. I've put some nice Arundel bottle cages, Velo Orange fenders and front rack on my touring bike and built it a new wheel set. This would've cost me a ton without the access gained through the shop, so it's been great.
I'm also learning a lot about bikes with which I otherwise wouldn't have come into contact. There's some steel commuters out there that I'm stoked about, and I'm getting exposure to high end carbon and aluminum bikes.
The town bike I built after my fixie got stolen was decommissioned. It's now disassemble in the attic. I turned it into a three speed for the last month or so I was riding it, but I think I really resented it for being the bike I built post-theft. Kind of silly, but what can you do? How you feel is how you feel.
The touring bike is pretty sharp these days. I think I'm going to put a shorter stem on it and maybe some new pedals, and it'll be ready for a tour the moment overnight lows are consistently above freezing. In the meantime, I've finally started riding the old chrome track bike that dropped into my lap last year. I kind of hung onto it for a while without doing anything because, well, I thought the owner might want it back. But, I never heard anything through the grapevine, and I guess I was missing having a peppy bike to ride around town.
It's a great frame, but it needs some work. It's kind of a mishmash of parts right now - a Frankenstein monster of sorts. I, nor the rest of the mechanics at the shop, are able to figure out what it is either. We've narrow it down to a '60s or '70s Gitane, but that's the best we can do. I guess if I get really bored one night I can go through all of Gitane's catalogs, but that won't be anytime soon.
I haven't gone on a bike tour in almost a year. I'm not very happy about that, but it was an odd year packed with lots of excitement and new experiences. I guess I can't complain. Now that I have all of my bike stuff in DC, the sky is the limit. I'm seriously considering doing some triathlons this year and I've made lots of bike friends to go on rides with. As soon as the weather improves, it's on again!
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