Oh bother

Fri, 13 Aug 2004 23:09:05 -0700, ,
(Tom Keats) wrote:

http://www.icebike.org/

The last snowfall we had, I tried winterizing my Sekine mixte.
Lowered the saddle, stuck some non-violent plastic flattie pedals
on 'er, let some air out of the 27" IRC tires, etc.

Y'know what? I ain't heavy enough to ride on ice & snow.
Hell, you're probably even lighter. How do you manage?

I dunno. I pedal a lot?

The polo bike does duty as my snow bike. The 26" X 2" knobbys run
about 40 lbs on the snow or grass - less on gravel. They work pretty
good in the fresh snow. Only after it froze into lumps and ruts did I
put on both studded tires. Usually only need the front one for
control.
The Polish step through did okay on the fresh stuff too. It's got ugly
mismatched 26" X 1 3/8" general duty street tires with normal tread
patterns. The coaster brake means bailing in lieu of emergency stops.
It handled the snow better than joe-bike with its slicks.

Maybe your Sekine needs cyclo cross tires. I'd think it more a matter
of weight distribution than overall weight.

But, y'know those newfangled skimboard things? I bet
those would be a blast, hanging 10 down Little Mountain.

Maybe it's a valid tactic to gain weight (if you can)
over the winter, just to get some traction. Maybe
poutine & nanaimo bar is the answer.

I had some cheese blintzes and some blueberry blintzes for lunch
yesterday. It wouldn't be half painful to put on 5 kilos eating those.
--
zk

Bill wrote:
"the black rose" wrote in message
news
It looks like the 2005 bikes won't be out in August. More like
November. I only waited until now because the new bikes were supposed
to be out this month. If I'd seriously tried to get an '04, I could
have bought one last month, but at this point, the bike shops are down
to the last pickings and the manufacturers aren't making any more '04

bikes.

Oh bother, said Pooh.

So I'm stuck with this ding-danged heavy hybrid for the rest of the
season. I found this out, came home, stole the last Spaten (straight
from Munich) out of the fridge, and drank it while pouting, and I'm
still feeling peevish about it.

I WANNA NEW BIKE, DAGNABBIT!!!!

*whine*

*mutter*

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts


Three days ago you were asking for advice on whether to buy a road or
touring bike. Sounds like you lucked out. Now you have the opportunity
(time) to make an informed decision rather than just grabbing a bike. Maybe
with a little patience you can buy the right bike the first time. Start
taking those protracted test rides. ;-)

D'oh, I shoulda made it clear that I was asking that for someone else, a
friend who just started riding again and got this "maybe I could be an
ultracyclist!" gleam in her eye. She's got a cheap Schwinn road bike,
lofty ambitions of riding across the country, and very limited internet
access, so I figured I'd ask for her, and forward the replies.

She thanks you guys for the suggestions, by the way.

*My* idea of endurance riding is more along the "ride a century" area.
I'm pretty sure what kind of bike I need to look for, I just thought the
new bikes would be out so I could go around a-testriding. Not possible
to take any test rides when there aren't any bikes remotely close to the
size I need.

*sigh*

I'm over my fit of pique now.

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

Luigi de Guzman wrote:
On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 22:56:49 GMT, the black rose
wrote:

Drinking one beer is excessive? Sure, it was the last one, but geez.


*blinks*

Oh!

Somehow, I read "Spatlese" instead. 30cl of beer is one thing; 75 cl
of wine is quite another.

*snorfle* No wonder. Is Spatlese a red wine? (Red wines trigger
migraines for me.) If so, between the headache and the drunkenness, I'd
be pretty knocked out.

That's funny. The shop down the road from me has a lot of very small
road bikes hanging around.

Local supply and demand. It's a killer.

BAH! Where'd you say you live? *grin*

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 19:08:59 GMT, the black rose
wrote:

Luigi de Guzman wrote:
On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 22:56:49 GMT, the black rose
wrote:

Drinking one beer is excessive? Sure, it was the last one, but geez.


*blinks*

Oh!

Somehow, I read "Spatlese" instead. 30cl of beer is one thing; 75 cl
of wine is quite another.

*snorfle* No wonder. Is Spatlese a red wine? (Red wines trigger
migraines for me.) If so, between the headache and the drunkenness, I'd
be pretty knocked out.

A white wine. Usually quite light. I find them quite refreshing,
actually.

And I should have said 3cL.


That's funny. The shop down the road from me has a lot of very small
road bikes hanging around.

Local supply and demand. It's a killer.

BAH! Where'd you say you live? *grin*

NoVA.

-Luigi


-km

In article ,
the black rose writes:

I'd certainly astonish at least a few people (my husband, for example)
if I ride in the snow and ice. Heck, for all I know, if I try it, it
might agree with me more than riding in cool autumn rain does.

It's a worthy experiment. I just took a half-hearted
stab at it last winter. If I'd have set my mind to it,
I would have figgered it out. But we don't really get
snow in Vancouver, we get a snow-like substance that
only lasts for 3 or 4 days and is slicker than, as
Claire once described: 'owl snot'. So I decided the
timeframe wasn't big enough to make a concerted effort
to develop and work on specialized skills.

I'm probably not heavy enough either. Though my bike probably is. :-P

Maybe next winter I'll hang sandbags on mine.

Maybe it's a valid tactic to gain weight (if you can)
over the winter, just to get some traction. Maybe
poutine & nanaimo bar is the answer.

Poutine sounds good;

Nanaimo bar is better; especially with a cup of
fairly-traded mocha whatever fancy kind of coffee.

not sure where I could get it around here.

I used to chum around with a lady who occasionally enjoyed
a brunch of fries & gravy ( split it on two plates), and a
cherry Coke. I guess it's the next-best thing. But she was
from some far-way exotic place like Spedina or Ajax Ontario,
and was unfamiliar with stuff like California Cone or even
Tekka Maki.

And -- uhhhh, you're suggesting a WOMAN deliberately gain weight?

Hell, I'd cook for ya, and feed ya, as long as you keep the
compliments on my culinary prowess coming. And I make damn
good reubens. I don't mind reubenesque women at all.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

In article ,
Zoot Katz writes:

Maybe your Sekine needs cyclo cross tires. I'd think it more a matter
of weight distribution than overall weight.

It's stuck w/ 27" rims, I'm afraid. The only tires I can easily
get for them are those cheapo IRCs, or the backward-compatible Contis.
If I could just get them to bite into packed slush, I'd be well on
the way to getting well on the way.

It's quite a light bike, even for an early '70s model. If I
didn't have to go around corners (or do any steering at all,)
I could just skim over top of the semi-frozen winter slurries
we get here. As it was, whenever I got to corners, I found
myself having to plant both feet on the ground, grabbing the
seatpost with one hand and the top tubes with the other, and
manhandling the bike around 90 degrees underneath me. I figured
the mixte config would be ideally suited to the little more than
usual dabbing that comes with ice riding. But it got to the point
where I'd do just as well to get off and walk.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Zoot Katz" wrote in message ...

If need be, get studded tires for that hybrid. It's your winter bike!

http://www.icebike.org/

That's the time to hit the gym.

I've told you before about junk miles.

If part of your route is a bicycle trail that is not plowed, you can
plow it yourself. From another message:

Is there someplace we can get these plans? We have some trails that
needed this a couple of years ago.

http://www-bdnew.fnal.gov/pbar/organ...Bike_Plow.html

He's freakin' brilliant, and we just chatted in email. If you didn't
get the site URL, it's repeated above. I sorta doubt he had plans,
since it was adapted from a hand plow, but you get enough pictures on
the site to put it together, ISM.

Tom Keats wrote:

In article ,
the black rose writes:

I'd certainly astonish at least a few people (my husband, for example)
if I ride in the snow and ice. Heck, for all I know, if I try it, it
might agree with me more than riding in cool autumn rain does.

It's a worthy experiment. I just took a half-hearted
stab at it last winter. If I'd have set my mind to it,
I would have figgered it out. But we don't really get
snow in Vancouver, we get a snow-like substance that
only lasts for 3 or 4 days and is slicker than, as
Claire once described: 'owl snot'. So I decided the
timeframe wasn't big enough to make a concerted effort
to develop and work on specialized skills.

I'm probably not heavy enough either. Though my bike probably is. :-P

Maybe next winter I'll hang sandbags on mine.

Maybe it's a valid tactic to gain weight (if you can)
over the winter, just to get some traction. Maybe
poutine & nanaimo bar is the answer.

Poutine sounds good;

Nanaimo bar is better; especially with a cup of
fairly-traded mocha whatever fancy kind of coffee.

not sure where I could get it around here.

I used to chum around with a lady who occasionally enjoyed
a brunch of fries & gravy ( split it on two plates), and a
cherry Coke. I guess it's the next-best thing. But she was
from some far-way exotic place like Spedina or Ajax Ontario,
and was unfamiliar with stuff like California Cone or even
Tekka Maki.

And -- uhhhh, you're suggesting a WOMAN deliberately gain weight?

Hell, I'd cook for ya, and feed ya, as long as you keep the
compliments on my culinary prowess coming. And I make damn
good reubens. I don't mind reubenesque women at all.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Mon, 16 Aug 2004 19:21:37 -0700, ,
(Tom Keats) wrote:

It's stuck w/ 27" rims, I'm afraid. The only tires I can easily
get for them are those cheapo IRCs, or the backward-compatible Contis.
If I could just get them to bite into packed slush, I'd be well on
the way to getting well on the way.

MEC had Tioga Bloodhounds in 27". The winters we get hardly justifies
their expense. They'd rot out before the wore out if you only rode
them on snow.

Sheet-metal screws through old tires from OCB! would give plenty of
bite and not likely to need replacement in five normal years of snow.
--
zk

Tue, 17 Aug 2004 02:58:44 GMT, EveUc.125402$J06.12767@pd7tw2no,
Coach,"Fabrizio Mazzoleni" advised:


"Zoot Katz" wrote in message ...

If need be, get studded tires for that hybrid. It's your winter bike!

http://www.icebike.org/

That's the time to hit the gym.

I've told you before about junk miles.

.. . . and I forgot.

Training is passe.Gene technology is where it's at, baby.

I'll be looking into those stem cell implants next week.

Remind me, okay?
--
zk