I don't seem to be getting any faster these days, but the Frigid Bits crowd sure does. These events are starting to look like horse races. Carlos yells "Go!" and, BAM, the pack takes off like it's bein' chased by a bunch of homosexual hillbillies with shotguns. Chubby old slow dudes (well, OK, maybe I shouldn't be using the plural since I'm really just talking about me) get spit out the back so fast we barely get a look at the leaders' blinking tail lights until they lap us.
At least we all eat about the same speed, and Saturday was tailgate party night. We had a fire barrel, beer, chili, brats, beer, burgers, elk steak, beer, cookies, and reindeer sausage.
Did I mention beer?
What could look better than a bunch of mountain bikes parked in the snow next to a circle of people drinking beer around a fire?
8 comments:
how do you aluminum mountain bike frames fair in the supercold of alaska? i cracked my aluminum racer-x just the other day in sub-freezing temps and i'm wondering whether the temperature was a factor.
I'm not aware of inherent problems with aluminum bikes in cold weather. My winter commuter is a 15-year-old Trek 7000. I've routinely used it in cold weather, sometimes as low as -18 F.
I see others riding aluminum bikes all the time in winter, and I've never heard anyone express concern about it.
Sounds like a blast. Not the riding in the cold part, the fire barrel and beer part.
Awesome picture of the bikes lined up on the parking lot posts. Verification that a good number of Alaskans aren't intimidated by the outdoors, regardless of the weather or season. It was fun.
"Grill Master" Kelly
This is in answer to the person asking about aluminum bikes in cold weather. I commute daily six miles each way year round. I used to own a Gary Fisher - Ziggurat that lasted through 5 years of racing and twice daily exposures to freezing temps in the winter. It's demise was the result of the weld failing at the bottom bracket. I probably logged 3-4000 miles each year. So,relatively speaking it held up quite well. But, my co-worker, an engineer, said that stressing the frame by going in and out of the cold for that many cycles was probably the ultimate reason for the failure. The daily contraction and expansion of the metals/welds because of the large temperature swings can't be good.
Don't worry about keeping up, remember the Frigid Bits slogan " the sooner you get behind the longer you have to catch back up !
carlos
To paraphrase the Baron de Cobertin, "The most important thing in the Frigid Bits is not to win but to take part just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well." And bringing yummy chili is mighty important, too. Good job!
yes, yummy chilly, amen. (note, that 's an (')A-'men, not an (')รค-'men)
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