I suited up for a ride wondering about how many layers I would have to put on. The morning temps are running from 0C to -10C. You Fahrenheit people get with the program and convert. (0C is freezing, 100C is boiling, -40C and -40F is the same- DARN COLD!). I found the longjohns and will consider dispensing with them around July 1st. Two pairs of insulated, loose socks, lightly laced in my sneakers to not restrict circulation. Jeans, a loose shirt and my blue hoodie and I am all decked out to sit on the couch and watch TV at a comfortable 20C (68F). Riding on brisk morning -10C,with a nasty little breeze required layers, My windproof jacket and pants topped with my bright green, high vis hoodie, a pair of insulated gloves and a hard hat liner under my bike helmet, along with my sunglasses and I'm off. A little cold on the bare part (not much) of my face and I had to curl my fingers up in my gloves, particularly my left hand with the old smashed finger until circulation picked up, but I was soon up to heat. It would have been lovely to have a WGX WindWrap Fairing, but it will have to wait.
Half way through the ride most days I shed at least one hoodie, open a couple of zippers, drop the hoodie hood and open the flaps on the hard hat liner. My roads are primarily hard surfaced secondary highways with light traffic, a few grades, not many but a few curves. A very bucolic scene as I roll through farms, swamps and forests. Boring? No I love it. Not much for wildlife yet as the deer are still in their yards... but soon. Saw a drunk robin eating frozen apples the other day.
Have different routes set up and some days do 50km (30mi) but most days keep it to 30-40 with overall average of around 12-14 kmph. I keep my cadence at 50-60 rpm, and the grades/head winds make my common gears 6 & 7 on my 48T front ring with occasional drop as low a 1 on a couple hills. Almost always use the 48T with a couple times along the way dropping to the 38T (stock Rover 8 Ext).
Now have over 1400 km on Rover II. The bike computer from Raniaco stopped working suddenly with no speed reading and batteries change did not solve the issue. Email to company was sent and promptly responded and promised immediate shipment of replacement. Will update on support after replacement comes but until failure it had worked well.
Did a bit of other maintenance. A "click" responding to cadence under load was traced to a left pedal bearing. Removed end cap and gave both pedals a shot of spray grease. That solved the problem for now. When warmer I will disassemble and check the bearings. Will update later.
On first week home, in the silence rolling through the forest started hearing another "click" and checking with my hand while seated on the bike, sure enough found a loose spoke. How long loose? Who knows as my hearing is not predator sharp. Sitting on stand and trying I could not identify for certain which one it was by hand but knew as I had identified location when seated on it. The wheels all appeared true so simply took my spoke wrench and checked them all. Was a full 1.5 turns off tight. I found several others on all wheels that were a little loose- .25-.5 turns. All tightened without change in truing. I expect this was simply break-in loosening, perhaps with a bump or two, too many. But every thing appears straight and true, so will see in another 1000 or so.
A little warmer yesterday and today so will get out and enjoy the ride before we get another 12" dump. like we did the week after arriving home. Spring where are you? Like the poem says,"Along about knee deep in June!"
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| Along the Rainy River-ice is out |
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| Out the back Door-March 17- no ride today |
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| Oh what shall Poor Rover do then? Sit in the barn and keep itself warm |
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