Sunday, April 30, 2023

Tricia's new bike, and other cool stuff

New bike day! Tricia picked up her Trek Domane SL 5 Gen 4. She's had her much-loved Specialized Ruby since 2009, but really wanted a bike that would be a better fit for our new location in New York's Finger Lakes as well as be more appropriate for our planned tours this summer.

This beautiful bike has the same lowest gear as the Ruby, but without the finicky triple chainset. It also comes with 32mm tires, considerably more cushy than the max 25s on her Ruby. Considering the number of unpaved roads here it's a perfect solution. All the cables are internally routed, so it looks super clean. She also opted for SPD pedals instead of the SPD-SL road version she's used for years. That should make it more practical for the hike-a-bike and sightseeing we plan. 
I also bought a treat. I've really enjoyed the used Powertap hub power meter I bought a zillion years ago. I also really like training with power using Zwift and the Wahoo trainer. Riding on the trails here and having Strava estimate my power was depressing, and made it hard to actually train. The estimated numbers were alway super low. Perhaps because Strava doesn't use bike weight, tire and wheel weight or path surface in their calculations.
Whatever the reason, my numbers were way off.

So I bought Garmin SPD power meter pedals. It's been raining here since I installed them, so I've only been able to confirm they do work thus far. I'm looking forward to riding our standard trail and seeing how the numbers change.





Sunday, April 02, 2023

No fools this April 1

I've been riding in the garage on Zwift for what feels like ages. It's really cold here. But on April 1 the high was 70! Sure, it dropped into the 20s that night after a huge thunderstorm with massive winds. But for a few hours life was worth living. 

We took a short ride on the Catharine Valley Trail to Diversion Brewing in Montour Falls for a glass of cider. I can't express how wonderful it was to be on a bike outside under blue skies. 

Of course, the high for today is in the 30s, so it's garage time for me again. But maybe there's hope for spring here.