Thanks to everyone that commented on my Bike Searching Thread. I ended up with the 2017 Diamondback Haanjo Trail. I placed my order last Tuesday morning, the bike shipped the same day from Ohio, and I missed the first delivery attempt on Friday (not DB's fault). I accepted shipment on Saturday and after honey-do list completion, I assembled the bike, which was a cinch. The only problems I had was the brake calipers were slightly misaligned but loosening the bolts and pulling the brake then retightening them centered them well. The front wheel was a few millimeters out of true but I'm going to get that fixed after about 100 miles on the bike to allow the spokes and nipples to settle in. After I got the bike assembled, I went on a 2 mile or so test ride around the neighborhood. This quick ride included a road section that has seen better days, a roughly paved trail, and some smooth neighborhood singletrack.
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\nI immediately pulled the tubes for spares and set the bike up tubeless. It took a few tries to get the sealant in all the nooks and crannies but they hold air well now.
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\nI added lights to allow safe and legal commuting and went on another ride of about 5 miles doing a few loops of the first test ride to get used to the brifters and handling. I have found the bike to be more snappy than my hardtail mountain bike as expected but it still allows for some rowdiness.
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\nLast night I rode approximately 30 miles to the LBS where my wife picked me up. The weatherman called for 20% chance of snow so I risked it. Turns out for about 20 miles it was a 100% chance. Everything was warm except my toes, so I will be looking for some overshoes. The ride was mostly unpaved greenway trails for about 20 miles but then the greenway turns to concrete which was nice. This was my first real taste of riding this bike and it was pretty smooth. The 40c tires soaked up all but the largest hits and the traction of the Kenda Flintridge Pro tires was more than acceptable. shifting was so smooth that on more than one occasion, I looked to the cassette to ensure the rear mech was actually shifting. Wet and cold, I ended the ride with an average of about 10 miles per hour. I still need to stretch out my endurance and keep a steady cadence but I'm pretty new at this.
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\nThis morning I rode 26 miles into work with about 10 miles of road and the rest tank trail and the greenway path from last night. It is mostly a steady downhill going south into work with only 730 feet of climbing over the whole route and I averaged 14mph. Riding as the sun rose over Colorado Springs was great. I'm still a little nervous riding on road but most of the roads were either empty or had a bike lane. It was chilly again but dry which allowed my toes to stay warm for all but the very end. The bike again performed well.
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\nIt was my first time riding both of these routes so there was a lot of stopping and checking google maps to see where my watch was trying to take me last night as well as a washed out bridge over a shallow but wide creek and some trail maintenance. This morning it was more checking my map my ride app to ensure I was on the right path as my Garmin died last night and my charger was at work.
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\nSo far I have about 60 miles on the bike and have been happy with it. I will try to post more pictures in the future as I only have a picture of the bike as well as one picture from this morning. Last night, I was too busy keeping warm to worry about pictures but rode by several deer, about a million rabbits, and a homeless village. (again head down to GTFO). Commuting by bike has allowed me to notice all the beauty Colorado has to offer even so close to Colorado Springs. I'll update this at 120 miles or so with hopefully more pictures.
Snow? It hasn't snowed here in a week (we'll have 80's next week).
Boots - I use neoprene covers that basically go over the front half of the shoe. I have full covers, but never use those. Cold toes are no fun.
Route: I also take an old phone, mount it to my handlebars and use it to keep me on my route - as I like very complicated rides. I'm not a straight line type of person. ;-)
Snow? It hasn't snowed here in a week (we'll have 80's next week).
Boots - I use neoprene covers that basically go over the front half of the shoe. I have full covers, but never use those. Cold toes are no fun.
Route: I also take an old phone, mount it to my handlebars and use it to keep me on my route - as I like very complicated rides. I'm not a straight line type of person. ;-)
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\nI here you. Colorado Weather is weird. It snowed lightly on that ride Tuesday night and was in the 70s by Friday. I think I'll hold off on the toe covers until next winter as it should be warm enough on the average to not need them. On routing, I am trying to keep the commute routes simple as I am riding 25-30 miles between home and work. The route home, I am modifying to get rid of the collapsed bridge. I'll basically just use a different gate from post to intercept the greenway trail further up.
Regarding cold feet... After many years of toe overs and booties I went out and purchased some winter boots with a mountain bike sole. Wow, I can't believe I waited so many years! It's just simpler and works better to throw on the right shoes.
Note - not all winter boots have the same amount of insulation. So I now have two pair. The Specialized boots which I first acquired are good into the upper 20's and do a good job of repelling water. For really cold rides I have a pair of Lake 303's which have much more insulation and weigh a good bit more.
If buying boots, consider going a half size larger to leave room for an extra pair of socks.
Another of my cold weather hacks is to use plastic bags as a toe cover INSIDE the shoes. For a long ride wool socks are a must as moisture will collect, but keeping the wind out and that thin layer of additional insulation makes a huge difference. Sandwich bags work great for me - they cover the toes and much of the foot. Best of all they weigh almost nothing and take up no room to carry.
