hrm
“Outta my way! I’ve got kids damnit!”
Now that sup has been regularly riding to work, she’s starting to experience the joys of Cat 6 racing. Last week she got home 5 min faster than usual because she was trying to beat a guy on a recumbent.
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I believe that counts as an automatic loss.
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I’ll watch like an hour of painfully weird shit on YouTube for hours, but I can’t get past 10 seconds in that. Tried twice.
Because of local internet e-bike provider Rad Power, electric fat bikes are the fucking norm here all summer long. Haven’t seen one since the rain started, but I’m sure the coming snowfall means that there will be a few more out there feeling smug on their way to work.
With their 5" tires pumped to 80psi.
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Obviously Minneapolis has a fuck ton of fat bikes. They all come out in November and are typically piloted by affluent looking boomer bros.
Based on the tire treads I follow, they seem to have generally better stability in fluffy snow than my 2” studded tires. I doubt they offer much in compacted snow.
I’ve really been working on the zen art of riding in snow. The key seems to be unweighting the front wheel as much as possible, so it floats above the snow and doesn’t push any around. At the same time, weight in the rear provides forward power. I’m getting pretty good, but as soon as the front wheel “dives” in the snow the bike bucks like a bronco and I have to English like crazy to keep from dabbing.
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I can’t remember your cargo situation, but I feel like rear panniers+ very setback post+ very swept back cruiser bars might work well. Really get your weight back, allow the front to wander all over but your c.o.g. doesn’t shift as much, helping keep u upright.
New cat 6 move.
Saying hi and chatting with folks on my ride home.
Its working great so far.
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Being a fat guy with risers/cruisers in the snow is a godsend. All the traction.
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Please take some photos
Yep. I made it about 30 seconds.
Then I watched 8 minutes of “Sneaker Shopping With Ski Mask the Slump God”
I watch blacksmithing videos on 2x speed.
So sooooothing.
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I would say this is accurate, you gotta let that front wheel do his thing up there
I went from 2.2 down to 1.5 this year and I feel like it gives me a lot more control with the same amount of comfort. The only thing I’d change is that there are basically slicks, so when it gets REALLY deep I spin out more. Overall though, I’m feelin’ what the skinny winter tire guys are saying.
I lost a linguistic Cat6 on my ride to work this morning.
Ice season is finally over so the Surly has been put away to rust until next winter, and I was riding my Winter. I’m stopped at a light and an old guy on an old Raleigh, complete with '80s style helmet and milk crate on the rear rack rolls across the cross walk. He pauses for a sec, looks at me and says, “Nice bike. It’s like a real touring bike.”
His intonation was perfectly ambiguous so the second sentence could have been either,
“It’s, like, a real touring bike” (“like” as filler)
or
“It’s like a real touring bike” (“like” as a comparator - “your bicycle resembles a real touring bike”)
All I had was “Thanks,” and he rolled on down the sidewalk, turning off at the library.
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I think that’s a win, a genuine compliment. Old boy is getting sick of seeing electrified hybrid fat tired monstrosities. Your bike reminds him of an age when cyclotouring was rightly regarded as the most noble of past times.
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Then it’s a compliment to @Eric_Estlund.
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I had a shitty day, was in a shitty mood - was trying to enjoy a nice ride home in the unseasonably warm weather. Fucking tryhard in a safety vest, riding a carbon road bike (a madone?), that he p-clamped a rear rack and pannier to, angrily yelled “on your left” and whistled to get my attention while we were riding on a portion of trail that goes through a train yard and has chainlink fencing on either side. It’s too narrow for much more than single file. He could have waited like 20 seconds until the path opened up again, but he HAD TO PASS. I noticed how hard he was working to go 17mphish soooooo I decided to play my second favorite game with angry tryhards - it’s called “imma getcha” and it entails staying juuuuuust far enough behind the target so that they know you’re not drafting but they can still easily see you (especially if you have a bright, wide beam dyno light that you’re bathing them in, constantly reminding them you’re there). I sat behind him for 3 miles, watching him stand in his pedals and furiously sprint to get out of my headlight’s beam. After 2 miles I could hear him doing his best impression of a walrus as he tried to catch his breath. He couldn’t admit defeat, so he had to destroy himself and ride recklessly - including making several rather unsafe passes around peds and other cyclists, where he’d escape my dyno beam for a few seconds and slow down only to furiously spin again once I got him back in it. Finally, he pulled off into a parking lot, and I rode away hoping he was puking behind a car. I have never had so much success torturing someone with their own ego. I’m still in a bad mood, and I didn’t enjoy the beautiful riding weather as much as I hoped to … so, a Pyrrhic victory.
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