Of Successes And Failures

<===Confidence betrayed.

As reported last week, I received the Snow Dog's correct Phil Wood hubbed wheel after the Phil Wood & Co. had supposedly repaired it. Well.......it failed. 

First few pedal strokes: Pop......snap......pop! Okay.....not so good, but maybe things will smooth over. Well, after riding 5 miles to work, I had almost a dozen instances of loud, popping noises occurring just after coasting, and immediately after pedaling. This indicated to my mind that the pawls were again not properly engaging the ring drive gear.

On the way home, I counted to keep track. 24 instances of popping. This was so loud and hard that you could feel it right through the cranks. It was obviously already blowing up again after 10 miles. That was on Friday. I sent an e-mail to Phil Wood & Co. letting them know, and sometime today I am to hear about their proposed solution. My thoughts are that Phil Wood & Co. have exemplary customer service, (so far), and normally have exemplary products, (I've heard- this is my first experience with them), so I expect more of the same from their end as far as taking care of me. We'll see, and I'll let ya'all know how it goes down.

Speaking of down- I was very, very disappointed Friday about the deal with the hub. It means that The Snow Dog is through as far as riding for the foreseeable future. Of course, so is the snow. With a week's worth of over-freezing temps on tap, the snow is doomed. Already this weekend it has taken a huge hit. Snow for the Snow Dog is going to be gone anyway by the time the wheel gets figured out. Maybe I'll have it back and running for early season off road/muddy duty.

But there still was good riding to be had, and Saturday, with a warmer feel to the air, I got out the Badger and headed out for a bit of gravel travel to clear out the brain. I got out early enough Saturday that the snow was still prevalent on the roads, which made for excellent, smooth, fast going, not unlike a dry, buff B Maintenance road in the summertime.

Some of the drifts from the winter were huge, just like the last couple of years have had, and gravel was hard to come by since there were so many of these big road-side sentinels along my 30 mile route.

The skies were kind of odd Saturday, with a whitish overcast. This blended into the snowy surroundings at times to give the feeling of floating in a white cloud.

Visually it was blinding, and seeing any contrast in the road surface was difficult. At times, I would run into softer snow and the front tire would get pulled off-line, causing a moment or two of panic as I would try to control the bike. No worries though, as I was just fine for the whole ride. No biffs!

<===There is a fine line between being a "hard-azz" and a "dumb-azz"! 

I was getting a ton of odd looks from just about everyone I came across on this ride. I know some folks credit us wintertime riders with being some sort of "tough-guys", but I also know that the "General Public" thinks pretty much the opposite. If you ever want to know what the Outcasts of Society feel like sometime, I suggest you come along on a February training ride with me. I promise you, you will find Derision and Contempt staring your way along the roadsides and up and down the city streets.   Oh what a feeling!

Well, it was all good for pulling me back out of the dumps and getting my mind on track where it should be. The whole Snow Dog thing will work out eventually.

Tomorrow, I'll have more on the comparisons between the Luxy Bar and Salsa Cycles Woodchipper.