Unchained

Well, my winter riding season ended with a big, fat whimper. I went out Saturday morning to bag one last cruise on some snowy trails, then snapped a chain pin about 20 minutes into the ride. Of course, all my chain tools were on other bikes or my work bench, so I tossed the chain in my frame bag and then walked/coasted back to the car.

Strangely, I didn’t mind that much. It was a nice day for a walk through the woods. Nevertheless, it was an underwhelming way to end the fat-bike season. Damn April.

I’ve never actually tracked it, but I’d be willing to bet that I gain more weight this month than any other time of year. The riding sucks. I usually spend a big part of the month riding only to work and back while waiting for the pavement to become sufficiently dry and (somewhat) clean for decent road biking.

On the bright side, the doldrums give me time to try new things, so I’ve recently started posting on Twitter. I’ve always thought “tweeting” seemed silly but what the hell, I once thought only nerds wrote blogs. (Maybe starting a Twitter account proved me right.)

Anyway, I often come across interesting links or think up wiseass comments that never make their way to this page, so head over to Twitterland and check out @icybikes if you want some more (mostly) bike-related stuff.

It was my friend Anthony’s Twitter feed that alerted me to his nomination of his wife, Sierra, for the Kazlaw Community Mountain Biking Award. Thanks to everyone who voted for her. And if you didn't, click on over and give Sierra some electoral love.

After all, it's not every day you get a chance to vote for someone who won't spend the next four years disappointing you.