Far out and gone...

I've gone quiet for a while now. I know. It's just the shoulder season is dragging on and on around here. The riding is excellent. Just not snowy. That makes it difficult to write about the rides on the same trails over and over again in some meaningful way.

It's not that I'm not riding. I am. And I am getting more comfortable with the Farley more each day. I still have some gripes about it. Tires and climbing. Climbing and tires. One is changeable, the other not so much.

I had a great couple of rides this weekend. One solo ride on Friday where I chewed up close to 15 miles of mixed trail in the 20F temps and sun and one ride on Saturday with my son where we rolled fewer miles, but some more challenging trails, some big climbs that he did really well on given that he was on the Pugs.

I still want snow. I crave the way that it changes everything about riding. Heck, if nothing else  I want snow so that night riding is a bit easier to contend with - the lights need something to reflect off of.

A new product - Endura MT550 shoe covers. I had purchased a cheap ass pair of covers from REI two weeks ago or so just to see if they would help extend the use of clipless longer into the season. And the overall consensus was that they make riding in temps down to the low 20s generally quite comfy. I'm not sure about going lower, but I think I might be able to push it down to single digits easily. I'm still going to experiment with vapor barriers and just see how low I can go. Anyway, the ones from REI were crap from a quality perspective. The Enduras are much thicker neoprene, have a rubber toe cover and have a nice zipper instead of hook and loop closures. They seem like they might be warmer, though I can't say for sure as I've only used them twice and both times were in similar temps as those I'd worn the REI ones in, temps that are difficult - mid 20s where there is a razor thin line between too cool and too warm. I think that my feet sweat more in the Endura, which would make them colder - thus the need to experiment with vapor barriers.

Anyway. That's really all there is. Just riding and riding. Good times, indeed.