Winter Cycling / Projects

Ah mid November. That lovely time of year when its just warm enough to rain...but not by much. Probably the worst weather on Earth. I have still been able to eek out some time on the trails and my plan right now is to ride as much as I can until the Turkey Burner on the 28th and then 'officially' swap over to the ski season / riding the trainer indoors.

My mind has already started to look ahead to possible upgrades and projects that I can do to some of my bikes and other ways that I can keep with cycling through the winter months. I want to try and keep with my resolution from last year, to ride trails at least once every month of the year. And this winter I have even bigger plans.

I have hatched a plan to ride a bike to some new trails that probably haven't been ridden much to date. How do I know this? Because they are on islands in the middle of Squam Lake.

Riding on water? You can forget epic, this winter is going to be BIBLICAL.

I also have some big plans for my commuter bike. Idea is to swap out the traditional drop bars for a more contemporary MTB inspired flared drop bar. A' la the On One Midge Bar:
and to upgrade to some cheap disc brakes. The ultimate goal being a bike that I can still roll to work in comfort on but also be able to shred some trails with confidence and a bit more off road stability. One reason this came to mind was a goal to ride my bike from home down to Franklin, NH...ride some loops at the Falls and then ride back home. Probably about a 40-50 mile adventure or so. Plus I think upgrading to disc brakes may open up the option of changing the bike to a 29er at some point in the future but that will be a more advanced project and require more parts to be bought and measurements to be taken, so that might be pushed out depending on funds, time, etc.

Probably also upgrade some parts on the SS, but thats all just maintenance stuff.

Also be on the lookout for an expansion in content this winter. I will be buying a new cheap digital camera here at some point and I want to try and start bringing it to the mountain this winter to document some of my time spent doing the other sport I love.

Fingers crossed for another season like this...