First rain ride of the season

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 01:34:07 GMT, "Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction
Bicycles" wrote:

One more thing. This will be the year that I get some fenders.
Eating mud thrown up by the front tire is not that enjoyable, after
all.

Terry: SKS Blades. The only way to go. They install *so* quickly &
easily, and actually work (what a concept). They run just under $50; sold
the last set of up-to-25c in our RC store, but might have more in Los Altos.
We do still have the slightly-larger ones in stock.

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].

- rick

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 01:34:07 GMT, "Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction
Bicycles" wrote:

One more thing. This will be the year that I get some fenders.
Eating mud thrown up by the front tire is not that enjoyable, after
all.

Terry: SKS Blades. The only way to go. They install *so* quickly &
easily, and actually work (what a concept). They run just under $50; sold
the last set of up-to-25c in our RC store, but might have more in Los Altos.
We do still have the slightly-larger ones in stock.

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].

- rick

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles"
wrote let it be known in
om:

However, that's not to say I haven't done my share of rides
below freezing. Coldest so far was 23 degrees, and we
usually get about 10-15 rides at or below freezing, and
perhaps 4-5 in the upper-20s.

A walk in the park!

December throuh February last year, the group I rode with was
determined to ride as often as possible (to lessen the pain of
starting from scratch in the Spring!)

This translated into a LOT of cold mountain bike night rides.
I'd say our average night ride in December/January was 8
degrees or less. Our 'record' night in Western Mass was 10
BELOW zero, with a windchill of -45. We enjoyed (?) an hour
and a half night ride which was then given front page coverage
by two local newspapers:

Group likes the 'tour de freezing'
01/17/2004
By DAVID A. VALLETTE Staff writer
Springfield Republican

GREENFIELD - Bundled at home, most people found little problem
dealing with the below-zero temperatures and wind chills of
about 40 below Thursday night.

*** There is one group, however, that, by choice, met the
cold, the wind and the dark head on, almost as a welcome ally
in pursuit of winter activity.

*** Members of this impromptu group took to the wilds of
Conway that night on one of several trailed areas where
elevation and snow add up to a good mountain bike experience,
even in the dark.

*** "When you live in New England you have to make that great
decision of how you are going to live your life," said Liam
O'Brien of Deerfield. He has decided, he said, that he will
not let winter, with its short days and long, cold nights, get
in the way of enjoying the environment. "The days are short in
winter, so it is either do it in the dark when the workday is
over, or do nothing," said O'Brien.

*** Leader of the night bikers is Robert G. Perry, owner of
Bicycles Unlimited on High Street, who has been making the
hills a frequent winter nighttime haunt for more than 10
years. It was sometime in the mid-1980s that he did it for the
first time. An amateur bike racer, he was looking for a way to
keep biking in the winter, and found his racing bike couldn't
handle wintered trails, so he took up mountain biking on
snowmobile trails. "People think you are making it up" when he
tells them he went out riding the night before, he said. "I
have to show them photographic proof," he said. He and the
other participants, a group that includes Chad and Stephanie
Castonguay of South Hadley, Jack Rice of Erving, Walter
Goodridge of Conway, Michelle Hurley of Northfield, Shawn
LeBlanc of Petersham, and Curt Bousquet of Putney, Vt., along
with O'Brien, use lights, proper garments and other equipment
to deal with the cold and stay safe. "We are very well
prepared," said Perry, who is known in the group as "Bicycle
Bob." The equipment includes a global positioning system that
uses satellites to be sure of location and avoid getting lost.
Perry said participants can't expect, however, not to feel the
temperatures. "No matter what you do, you are going to be
cold," he said. That is nothing to be alarmed about, he
contends, because it is little different than in summer when,
no matter what you do when you go outside, "you're going to be
hot." His cardinal rule is to "always feel your fingers, toes
and ear lobes to make sure you always have sensation." The
winter night bikers have become experienced in what to wear
while out riding to avoid problem cold, and often, said
O'Brien, the real problem is sweating. When you are sweating,
and you stop biking, that is when you are the most cold, he
said.

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles"
wrote let it be known in
om:

However, that's not to say I haven't done my share of rides
below freezing. Coldest so far was 23 degrees, and we
usually get about 10-15 rides at or below freezing, and
perhaps 4-5 in the upper-20s.

A walk in the park!

December throuh February last year, the group I rode with was
determined to ride as often as possible (to lessen the pain of
starting from scratch in the Spring!)

This translated into a LOT of cold mountain bike night rides.
I'd say our average night ride in December/January was 8
degrees or less. Our 'record' night in Western Mass was 10
BELOW zero, with a windchill of -45. We enjoyed (?) an hour
and a half night ride which was then given front page coverage
by two local newspapers:

Group likes the 'tour de freezing'
01/17/2004
By DAVID A. VALLETTE Staff writer
Springfield Republican

GREENFIELD - Bundled at home, most people found little problem
dealing with the below-zero temperatures and wind chills of
about 40 below Thursday night.

*** There is one group, however, that, by choice, met the
cold, the wind and the dark head on, almost as a welcome ally
in pursuit of winter activity.

*** Members of this impromptu group took to the wilds of
Conway that night on one of several trailed areas where
elevation and snow add up to a good mountain bike experience,
even in the dark.

*** "When you live in New England you have to make that great
decision of how you are going to live your life," said Liam
O'Brien of Deerfield. He has decided, he said, that he will
not let winter, with its short days and long, cold nights, get
in the way of enjoying the environment. "The days are short in
winter, so it is either do it in the dark when the workday is
over, or do nothing," said O'Brien.

*** Leader of the night bikers is Robert G. Perry, owner of
Bicycles Unlimited on High Street, who has been making the
hills a frequent winter nighttime haunt for more than 10
years. It was sometime in the mid-1980s that he did it for the
first time. An amateur bike racer, he was looking for a way to
keep biking in the winter, and found his racing bike couldn't
handle wintered trails, so he took up mountain biking on
snowmobile trails. "People think you are making it up" when he
tells them he went out riding the night before, he said. "I
have to show them photographic proof," he said. He and the
other participants, a group that includes Chad and Stephanie
Castonguay of South Hadley, Jack Rice of Erving, Walter
Goodridge of Conway, Michelle Hurley of Northfield, Shawn
LeBlanc of Petersham, and Curt Bousquet of Putney, Vt., along
with O'Brien, use lights, proper garments and other equipment
to deal with the cold and stay safe. "We are very well
prepared," said Perry, who is known in the group as "Bicycle
Bob." The equipment includes a global positioning system that
uses satellites to be sure of location and avoid getting lost.
Perry said participants can't expect, however, not to feel the
temperatures. "No matter what you do, you are going to be
cold," he said. That is nothing to be alarmed about, he
contends, because it is little different than in summer when,
no matter what you do when you go outside, "you're going to be
hot." His cardinal rule is to "always feel your fingers, toes
and ear lobes to make sure you always have sensation." The
winter night bikers have become experienced in what to wear
while out riding to avoid problem cold, and often, said
O'Brien, the real problem is sweating. When you are sweating,
and you stop biking, that is when you are the most cold, he
said.

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles"
wrote let it be known in
om:

However, that's not to say I haven't done my share of rides
below freezing. Coldest so far was 23 degrees, and we
usually get about 10-15 rides at or below freezing, and
perhaps 4-5 in the upper-20s.

A walk in the park!

December throuh February last year, the group I rode with was
determined to ride as often as possible (to lessen the pain of
starting from scratch in the Spring!)

This translated into a LOT of cold mountain bike night rides.
I'd say our average night ride in December/January was 8
degrees or less. Our 'record' night in Western Mass was 10
BELOW zero, with a windchill of -45. We enjoyed (?) an hour
and a half night ride which was then given front page coverage
by two local newspapers:

Group likes the 'tour de freezing'
01/17/2004
By DAVID A. VALLETTE Staff writer
Springfield Republican

GREENFIELD - Bundled at home, most people found little problem
dealing with the below-zero temperatures and wind chills of
about 40 below Thursday night.

*** There is one group, however, that, by choice, met the
cold, the wind and the dark head on, almost as a welcome ally
in pursuit of winter activity.

*** Members of this impromptu group took to the wilds of
Conway that night on one of several trailed areas where
elevation and snow add up to a good mountain bike experience,
even in the dark.

*** "When you live in New England you have to make that great
decision of how you are going to live your life," said Liam
O'Brien of Deerfield. He has decided, he said, that he will
not let winter, with its short days and long, cold nights, get
in the way of enjoying the environment. "The days are short in
winter, so it is either do it in the dark when the workday is
over, or do nothing," said O'Brien.

*** Leader of the night bikers is Robert G. Perry, owner of
Bicycles Unlimited on High Street, who has been making the
hills a frequent winter nighttime haunt for more than 10
years. It was sometime in the mid-1980s that he did it for the
first time. An amateur bike racer, he was looking for a way to
keep biking in the winter, and found his racing bike couldn't
handle wintered trails, so he took up mountain biking on
snowmobile trails. "People think you are making it up" when he
tells them he went out riding the night before, he said. "I
have to show them photographic proof," he said. He and the
other participants, a group that includes Chad and Stephanie
Castonguay of South Hadley, Jack Rice of Erving, Walter
Goodridge of Conway, Michelle Hurley of Northfield, Shawn
LeBlanc of Petersham, and Curt Bousquet of Putney, Vt., along
with O'Brien, use lights, proper garments and other equipment
to deal with the cold and stay safe. "We are very well
prepared," said Perry, who is known in the group as "Bicycle
Bob." The equipment includes a global positioning system that
uses satellites to be sure of location and avoid getting lost.
Perry said participants can't expect, however, not to feel the
temperatures. "No matter what you do, you are going to be
cold," he said. That is nothing to be alarmed about, he
contends, because it is little different than in summer when,
no matter what you do when you go outside, "you're going to be
hot." His cardinal rule is to "always feel your fingers, toes
and ear lobes to make sure you always have sensation." The
winter night bikers have become experienced in what to wear
while out riding to avoid problem cold, and often, said
O'Brien, the real problem is sweating. When you are sweating,
and you stop biking, that is when you are the most cold, he
said.

"Rick Warner" wrote in message

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].


I have to agree, though mine took longer to mount and I do have some issues
with the way they mount on some bikes, like mine. If you have a unicrown
fork with a brake bolt that protrudes in the back (is not countersunk), that
is best.

Having one bike with full fenders (and in my case an improvised splashguard
on the bottom) really makes a huge difference. As long as it's not raining
hard, my feet even stay dry. The setup keeps your legs and drivetrain free
of most gunk.

Boris

"Rick Warner" wrote in message

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].


I have to agree, though mine took longer to mount and I do have some issues
with the way they mount on some bikes, like mine. If you have a unicrown
fork with a brake bolt that protrudes in the back (is not countersunk), that
is best.

Having one bike with full fenders (and in my case an improvised splashguard
on the bottom) really makes a huge difference. As long as it's not raining
hard, my feet even stay dry. The setup keeps your legs and drivetrain free
of most gunk.

Boris

"Rick Warner" wrote in message

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].


I have to agree, though mine took longer to mount and I do have some issues
with the way they mount on some bikes, like mine. If you have a unicrown
fork with a brake bolt that protrudes in the back (is not countersunk), that
is best.

Having one bike with full fenders (and in my case an improvised splashguard
on the bottom) really makes a huge difference. As long as it's not raining
hard, my feet even stay dry. The setup keeps your legs and drivetrain free
of most gunk.

Boris

"Boris Foelsch" wrote in message servers.com...
"Rick Warner" wrote in message

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].


I have to agree, though mine took longer to mount and I do have some issues
with the way they mount on some bikes, like mine. If you have a unicrown
fork with a brake bolt that protrudes in the back (is not countersunk), that
is best.

If you have recessed brake mount, just move the tab to the other side
and mount to the bolt; that is what I did on my old steel Trek which
had recessed brakes in front but nutted on the rear.

Having one bike with full fenders (and in my case an improvised splashguard
on the bottom)

Always good to extend with a mudflap; I did that on the RaceBlades as
well :-)

really makes a huge difference. As long as it's not raining
hard, my feet even stay dry. The setup keeps your legs and drivetrain free
of most gunk.

And your back, too. And with a proper rear fender and mudflap my
riding buddies stay drier, too. Hate to get caught in someone's
rooster tail on a wet day :-(

Stay drier, ride longer :-)

- rick

"Boris Foelsch" wrote in message servers.com...
"Rick Warner" wrote in message

If full fenders do not fit, the RaceBlades are the next best thing.
They channel all the muck right at the brake mounts so you have a lot
of extra grit and garbage piling up on the brakes. I vote for the
full SKS fenders if you have the room; takes only 5-10 minutes to
mount and keep things a lot cleaner [I have 1 bike with RaceBlades,
two with full fenders, and one with no fender].


I have to agree, though mine took longer to mount and I do have some issues
with the way they mount on some bikes, like mine. If you have a unicrown
fork with a brake bolt that protrudes in the back (is not countersunk), that
is best.

If you have recessed brake mount, just move the tab to the other side
and mount to the bolt; that is what I did on my old steel Trek which
had recessed brakes in front but nutted on the rear.

Having one bike with full fenders (and in my case an improvised splashguard
on the bottom)

Always good to extend with a mudflap; I did that on the RaceBlades as
well :-)

really makes a huge difference. As long as it's not raining
hard, my feet even stay dry. The setup keeps your legs and drivetrain free
of most gunk.

And your back, too. And with a proper rear fender and mudflap my
riding buddies stay drier, too. Hate to get caught in someone's
rooster tail on a wet day :-(

Stay drier, ride longer :-)

- rick