Finally finished rigging my old Trek 7000 for winter riding, and then pedaled it to work this morning in the dark at 19 degrees. As I locked up just inside the employee entrance of my building, one person stopped to marvel at my studded tires, and another gasped when she saw I had ridden my bike. I knew they wouldn't understand if I tried to explain how nice the ride was. I wish I'd had more time to take a longer route to the office.The winter bike just got new SRAM Attack shifters, Avid brake levers from my old Stumpjumper, Nokian Extreme studded tires, Sun Rhyno Lite rims and a new front derailleur (which required the addition of a cable-stop collar on the seat tube a few inches above the BB, because Shimano no longer makes the strange design of front derailleur that came on this bike when it was made in '92).
Two major changes I'm trying this winter: 1) Pegged platform pedals from Sun/Ringle, which allow me to ride in Sorel boots because I have a big problem with freezing my toes, and 2) No cyclocomputer. I'm striving for a simpler approach and trying to give up my geek ways. So no more mileage logging; at least not for the winter.
This old Trek just keeps rolling smoothly along. I took it out for a brief shakedown cruise on Sunday afternoon and rode a couple of short sections of singletrack covered by an inch of new snow. Still rides like a new machine. Old bikes have character. I like that.
It's funny. Saturday I was riding my new full suspension bike, Sunday I was on my old rigid bike and didn't mind at all. They're both fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment