Nope, Yep
The plan was to do up a 50m gravel ride, partly in preparation for GravelGrovel- for them- and partly for mental sanity, for me. Instead, the wife had to take the good car out of town for a funeral so were left without back rack. Nope.
Dave came through with an alt route leaving from the 'hood at the same time, with Dave and Asher showing up bright and early at 6.00am for a planned 50m+. The very early morning Sunday streets were quite empty and pleasant to roll through, but shortly into the ride we stopped at a gas station 5 miles in to warm up and refuel a bit. As we reached the outskirts of J'town we noticed our discomfort rising, with my computer reading 38F, a temp none of us prepared for. The route now was following some rural/suburban roads that at 5pm on a weekday would be murderous but on this Sunday morning pleasant, misty and chilly. After a turn on Hopewell Rd., a new one for me, we turned right and barreled down 155 to our next gas station warm-up/fuel-up. Shortly thereafter, as I planned to put on a second layer of gloves, I came to find that poor Asher had only standard cycling gloves and whose digits were quite numb. Gloves for him!
At this point out of Fisherville we turned north onto Eastwood/Fisherville Rd., another new one for me. This section proved a bit lumpy but the sun was starting to do its trick. We turned westward back into towards town and picked up a relatively easy roll into Anchorage, E.P.Sawyer Park and our next gas station where I availed myself of some cheap chocomilk and Hostess calories. From there the decision was made that we were more interested in a warm breakfast than tagging on 10 extra miles, so via a shortcut through Sawyer, an extra loop through Boxwood and Blossom we hit the double-wide Westport and made our way through the park where I took a short turn on Dave's Fargo. It's a size L, too big for me officially, but I enjoyed its solid cockpit and predictable manners. I had been on the Sogn all day, of which I was very pleased, but the two bikes felt quite different regardless of "fat" tires. My 35c 650b tires looked like time-trial tires compared to the fatties on the Fargo. Too bad I can't afford a full-on new gravel tourer at the moment. But the Sogn performed well on its first longish ride for me. I'm not sure the Dirt Drops are the bar for distance, but I suffered no hand pain or numbness during the day, the only thing holding me back being the high bar position. The DDs will stay on until compelled to remove them. Yeah Sogn!
After a slow crawl out of the park, exacerbated by Dave's bent chainlink, we stopped at Twig-n-Leaf where I more than ate my fill to compensate for the cold morning. The boys headed west, I to the house and the satisfaction of some bicycle camaraderie, some new empty roads on a Sunday morning, and at 46m one of my longer rides of 2012 not involving a tour. A good morning for sure.
Dave's map including their extra stint.
Dave came through with an alt route leaving from the 'hood at the same time, with Dave and Asher showing up bright and early at 6.00am for a planned 50m+. The very early morning Sunday streets were quite empty and pleasant to roll through, but shortly into the ride we stopped at a gas station 5 miles in to warm up and refuel a bit. As we reached the outskirts of J'town we noticed our discomfort rising, with my computer reading 38F, a temp none of us prepared for. The route now was following some rural/suburban roads that at 5pm on a weekday would be murderous but on this Sunday morning pleasant, misty and chilly. After a turn on Hopewell Rd., a new one for me, we turned right and barreled down 155 to our next gas station warm-up/fuel-up. Shortly thereafter, as I planned to put on a second layer of gloves, I came to find that poor Asher had only standard cycling gloves and whose digits were quite numb. Gloves for him!
At this point out of Fisherville we turned north onto Eastwood/Fisherville Rd., another new one for me. This section proved a bit lumpy but the sun was starting to do its trick. We turned westward back into towards town and picked up a relatively easy roll into Anchorage, E.P.Sawyer Park and our next gas station where I availed myself of some cheap chocomilk and Hostess calories. From there the decision was made that we were more interested in a warm breakfast than tagging on 10 extra miles, so via a shortcut through Sawyer, an extra loop through Boxwood and Blossom we hit the double-wide Westport and made our way through the park where I took a short turn on Dave's Fargo. It's a size L, too big for me officially, but I enjoyed its solid cockpit and predictable manners. I had been on the Sogn all day, of which I was very pleased, but the two bikes felt quite different regardless of "fat" tires. My 35c 650b tires looked like time-trial tires compared to the fatties on the Fargo. Too bad I can't afford a full-on new gravel tourer at the moment. But the Sogn performed well on its first longish ride for me. I'm not sure the Dirt Drops are the bar for distance, but I suffered no hand pain or numbness during the day, the only thing holding me back being the high bar position. The DDs will stay on until compelled to remove them. Yeah Sogn!
After a slow crawl out of the park, exacerbated by Dave's bent chainlink, we stopped at Twig-n-Leaf where I more than ate my fill to compensate for the cold morning. The boys headed west, I to the house and the satisfaction of some bicycle camaraderie, some new empty roads on a Sunday morning, and at 46m one of my longer rides of 2012 not involving a tour. A good morning for sure.
Dave's map including their extra stint.
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