Must be spring NOW

[johnridley]

The slicks are on the bike (smoooooth...), and the frogs are peeping and the killdeer calling in the morning darkness as I ride to work.

Oh yeah, and the gravel road is a 75% disaster area. I'm sure it'll be a complete disaster area soon enough. I'm glad I've got relatively strong wheels.

I'll probably be digging up the new garden this weekend at some point.

EDIT: Guessing odometer was at 9800 miles from context of 10000 mile post in a couple weeks.

Comments

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

I've had so many flats through the winter, even with anti-puncture tape and slime, that I've switched to knobblies and may well stay with them.

There is so much building work around the hospitals and the area generally that there are always sharp bits of crud around.

Pity, I do notice the extra effort required (and reduced range on battery power).

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Isn't it awfully early to start digging?

K.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Nope, as soon as the frost breaks, I can dig like mad. The ground is very soft. Last year I dug the pond in about 6 hours, it would have taken several weekends if I waited a few weeks for the ground to harden into the normal cement it is in the summer.

Mind, I'm not planning on planting anything. And I will till it again before planting, but right now it's sod, and I want to lift and turn it (and maybe give it a Roundup shower) before the ground hardens.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm uncommonly lucky around here. I think I get less flats than anyone I've heard of up on Bike Forums. There just isn't much construction that's near enough the roads to spread debris, and the drunk drivers here seem to prefer cans, and cars aren't parked on the streets overnight and having their windows smashed nightly. There are people who live in cities up on Bike Forums that say they flat from 1 to 5 times a week. I flat on average 1 to 2 times a year, if you leave out the time I had a bad rim strip and flatted 5 times in one day (I walked 7 miles that day).

I have NEVER flatted with my winter tires, which are much nobblier and have studs (Nokian Hakkapeliitta) so it would take a lot more to get through them. But the rolling resistance on the others is lots better.

If I were flatting, I'd probably get some Armadillos or Conti Top Tourings and put a Conti puncture-resistant tube in it, which has thicker rubber. I'd probably even go to a tire liner before I rode all summer with knobblies.

There are folks on Bike Forums that ride in the American west where goathead thorns (nature's own caltrops) are prevalent, I would heed their advice on tires for puncture resistance, with an additional check for rolling resistance if I could find any stats online.