That Dreaded Time of the Year...

Here we are! The weather is finally starting to transition from the long summer days filled with warmth to the short, chilly days of winter. As many of you know, I'm not the biggest fan of winter. It is often the time of year when people such as myself pack in for a few months, and slowly watch the pounds pile on from extravagant holiday feasts and lack of exercise.

I've had thoughts about joining a gym over the past few weeks, but then I remember how much I hate them. They're often florescent lit, reminding me once more of my day stuck at work, and how the sun barely shows itself anymore after five. Instead, I've found myself biking home in the dark. This may sound dangerous, and I was a little nervous on my first ride out. What I've noticed though, is compared to the summer months, there is significantly less traffic on my commutes. No one really wants to be out when it's cold, dark, and sometimes rainy. Hell, even I don't really WANT to be out on those evenings either.

These rides in the dark have been some of the best cycling experiences I've had recently. You get the cool bight of the air rushing along you, the odd tranquility of having normally busy roads to yourself. Then there's the sensation of only knowing what's a few feet in front of you from your lamp. The way it makes me feel is fantastic. It is nearly the complete opposite of the gym, and I couldn't be happier.

People are already starting to look at me like I'm crazy out on my bike with this weather, but the worst is still to come. With a few extra minutes of planning in the mornings, I find I can adequately dress myself for almost any weather. From a simple windbreaker, to layers, to wool garments when it gets REALLY cold, I am putting in the effort to not let the forty pounds I've lost over the past few months sneak up on me again.

And you know what the best part about all of this is? The absolute joy of still riding my bike, despite the weather! There are few things getting me through my stresses recently, but every day I ride my bike to work, class, or errands, I know that I can always look forward to my ride back. Heck, the other day I even took the long way home.

To anyone reading this that's thinking about putting the bike “up for the season,” do yourself a favor, and don't. Go to your local bike shop and strap some lights on that sucker, pick up some warmer clothing.  Get out there and enjoy the slightly more empty streets!  Push for a new personal record, and enjoy the nearly sweat free experience, or simply go out and let the experience take you where it will.

Now since I'm trying to be informative about my posts too, I'm linking a clothing temperature chart I've used over the past week or so.  I pulled it off of the bicycling subreddit, and found it very useful!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlvwYrlWhEL6cFBJNklGM0JJSV9xUUJzc0FpSnNoUVE&usp=sharing#gid=0

 The only thing about this chart I've found, is that it tends to lean a little on the side of caution when it comes to how much you should wear.  I've been taking off the layers part way through my trips and stuffing them in my messenger bag.  That being said, try it out and see what works for you!

A Mildly Late Ugly Jersey Sunday!

So yes, first of all, it is Monday.  I realize I started ugly jersey Sundays last week, and it's only been one week.  For this I apologize.  This ugly jersey delay is sponsored by THE NFL - "For making you forget your worries all Sunday, until you remember you're a Browns fan."

This jersey is a total whopper of unsightly cycling apparel!  So, without further delay, allow me to present everyone with what I have dubbed "The Neon Shimano Jersey of Confusion."

Fresh out of the wash!

This jersey has caused more confused looks, comments, and derogatory remarks than anything else I've worn cycling.  Basically what I'm saying is that it's THE BEST!

I put on this jersey and I know I'm gonna piss some redneck in a lifted truck off.  It makes for exciting rides, with such high-visibility features as BEING ALL NEON PURPLE, PINK, AND ORANGE.  The thing is, I don't mind people yelling things at me from passing cars.  More often than not, it actually encourages me to catch up with them and have a word at the next stop light.  It's funny to see people clam up when they realize that they no longer have the protection of being in a moving vehicle.  That is pretty much the only scenario where I will say, "I love red lights!"

"So, that's an ugly jersey Steve, but how does it look on you?"

Well, let me put it this way.  It makes me look extremely homosexual and also kind of homeless.  Neither of those are bad things, and this shirt is reinforcing the attitude of "not giving a shit" recently.  Between the colors, the design of a wheelesque object made out of triangles, and the random splashes, you can only wear this if you've stopped giving a shit.

Selfie!  Because if this jersey had one word it could shout, it would be that, "SELFIE!"

The jersey itself is actually awesome.  It's super comfortable and the pockets are huge.  All in all, this has been the top I've been wearing the most frequently lately.  In short, this jersey is fantastic!

Bringing Back Style To Cycling (Ugly Jersey Sundays)

Hey guys!  Happy Sunday, and I hope you've all made it through the weekend alright!

Tonight, I'm here to start a somewhat regular feature on my blog that I'm titling "Ugly Jersey Sundays."  Basically, I've been starting to collect ugly cycling jerseys from yesteryear, and riding in them.  Some of them are actually kinda cool, and some of them are really, really bad looking.

Today I will present to you an eBay jersey I found for the price of $6.99!

Not looking horrible, right?  Thanks to Matt for the photo!

This is a tri-color jersey I picked up online, and while it isn't the most horrid jersey that will be posted on a Sunday from me, the comfort is.  100% polyester.  Enough said.

Not only does it make me feel a little feminine while I'm on my bike and cars are honking, it also makes it look as if I fart rainbows, as some teenagers were keen to point out earlier today.

All this being said, I actually don't HATE this jersey, and have been wearing it non-ironically over the past few weeks, because immature jokes aside, I actually do really like the way this top looks, plus it matches the tape and seat of my bike!  Oh God, I'm literally sitting here talking about accessorizing my bicycle.

With colors.

And matching them.

To my top.

...

...

Here's my man card.

Budget Tire Review!

As promised, although slightly late, here are my first impressions on the Forte Pro Plus (Performance Bikes house brand) road tires.

I did a whole bunch (read as 15 minutes) of reading on these particular tires before making the purchase.  They are very inexpensively priced like most of Performance's house brand gear tends to be.  After doing a little bit of digging around on Google and a little bit of reconnaissance at the store, I felt the evidence was pretty convincing that they were either rebadged Panaracer tires, or at the very least, made in the same factory as the Panaracers.

Now just because I bought these, I'm not to saying that Panaracers are the best tires out there, but the general consensus seems to be that they are pretty mid range.  Another tire option I had considered at the time were some Vittoria Zaffiros, but the shop only had them in the slick variant and I was weary of how these would handle in the rain.  I also strongly considered the Michelin Lithion 2 tire, which was what I had originally came to purchase, however the shop only had a single tire left.

After standing like an idiot in front of the tire rack for the better part of an hour, switching between my smartphone browser with Amazon reviews pulled up, and bothering the seemingly one knowledgeable employee there, I finally settled on the house brand Pro Pluses on BLOWOUT SALE for about $25 a piece.

My very first impressions of the tire were positive out of the packaging.  Kevlar bead, puncture resistant shell, and relatively lightweight for for the features.  I opted for the 23mm width rather than the 25mm simply because the only 25mm tires had a secondary compound that was red.  The 23s I purchased were a much more subtle grey.  I was coming off of some Kenda Kontender tires, also in 23mm, that were doing no favors to my now empty patch kit.  I can thank those tires for the two punctures and one sidewall blowout I had on my 90 mile trip back from Columbus several weekends ago.

Putting the new tires on the rims was a piece of cake, and I easily coerced them on using only a single tire lever.  The grey secondary compound was a different look for the bike, but difficult to distinguish from a distance.  The tires do not have a directional arrow, however if you look at the tread, it should be easy for even the most novice cyclist to tell which way they should be mounted.

Mounted, here you can see I clearly mounted it backwards no thanks to a directional arrow, as well as the two tone compound I mentioned.

My first ride was unfortunately a short morning commute of my regular 19 miles to the coffee shop followed by work.  The conditions were dry and the commute is a mixture of multi use paths, bike lanes, and very unkempt road.

On the bike paths I noticed that the ride comfort was right about the same as my old rubber, however the rolling resistance was greatly decreased.  Maybe it was a placebo effect, but my average speed for that section jumped by about 1mph with what I would consider the same amount of effort.

The second section is comprised of some neighborhoods and onto a more main street with a bike lane.  Here the Fortes (Fortis?) easily outperformed my Kendas that still had plenty of tread left.  The corners felt like I had much more grip thanks to the softer secondary compound.  I felt way more confident in taking turns at speed.  This was a good thing.

The third section of my commute is made up some less than ideally maintained roads.  This is the only point I was wishing for my old tires back.  It could be that I usually had the old Kendas between 110-120psi depending on conditions, or that I had put the new tires up to 130 for their inaugural trip, but the bumps seemed much more pronounced.

Throughout the week, I of course commuted more and found that lowering the pressure just a hair remedied my complaints about the bumps, yet did not cost me any pinch flats.  In the rain the tires handled decently, but a little on the unpredictable side.  I would not classify them as fantastic or awful, but somewhere in the "not bad" range of the spectrum.

Overall, I'm pleased with my cheap tire purchase, and would recommend them to someone looking for a basic tire that doesn't break the bank.  Positives include their low cost, decent rolling resistance, and good dry cornering.  Downfalls of the tire are poor to mediocre wet cornering, a bit of a stiff ride, and the unavailability of a 25mm tire that wasn't gaudy red.

On My Minor Absence

Hello everyone!

Let me apologize for my week and a half absence first of all!  I know it must've been tough for you to go more than a few days without your friend updating his poorly designed blog.  I'd love to put more posts on here, but life has been hectic lately!  Between putting in overtime at work, tons of schoolwork, and trying to manage a personal life, this blog was put on the back burner.  Well, fear no more, not tonight!  Not Tuesday night!  I've been meaning to write an update, and it's HERE and NOW!

Many of you might be thinking by my lack of updates here, and only my occasional Strava ride that my road bike phase is done and over with, because that's what I used to do with things like this.  Let me just correct those ideas.  No I haven't been using Strava as much recently, and yes, I still do plan to bike across the country.  I'm here to talk about why I'm not really on Strava anymore.

Commutes are boring.  There, I said it.  Nearly every day I've been riding my bike to work and to classes.  You get to a point though where it all becomes the same.  It's the same path you ride every day, and you take it easy on the way in.  Can't get too sweaty for the work day.  You do your thing, then bike to classes, or bike home.  It's all whatever to you at this point.  It becomes normal.  I've become so used to my daily commutes that I don't even feel like it's noteworthy to mention it, or even record it anymore.  I know the mileage that I did, and that's enough.

Now I will add one exception to this.  Lately I've been trying to haul ass on my way home.  On days I feel particularly good I've been recording.  I'd really love to see the numbers two and zero flash on my phone for an average speed.  Red lights definitely put a stop to my latest attempt.  Damn 18.5!

The only time I really enjoy my commutes are when something out of the ordinary happens.  I now love the rain, simply because drivers think you are plain crazy for being out in such weather and give you extra room.  I had the biggest grin the whole time on my first rain commute, I kind of hope for it more often now. 

I also had a pedal come off with two miles left a few weeks ago.  One legged riding in the rain was certainly new to me.  There was an added bonus of feeling like a complete hard ass when my boss pulled up in his SUV at the same time and simply said "Holy shit!" 

I've had a chain break on my way home.  Wait, I take that back, that was the least enjoyable commute I've had so far.

Can you find what's missing?  (Hint: you use it to move forward)

Anyhow, I'm still out there, I'm still putting in the saddle time and miles.  They're just boring miles.  Any weekend adventure I had planned for last weekend was destroyed by work, and prior Sunday golfing plans.  Yes, golf.  Hell has frozen over.  Steve did that and enjoyed it.  Also the Browns won and are tied for first in the AFC North.  I will leave this post at that to let it all sink in.

Tomorrow you can look forward to a tire review, since I've had them on for nearly two weeks now.  Excitement!