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| The new route was done to keep this road in the final T.I.V11 course |
Back when we did the first big Trans Iowa recon at the end of September, I mentioned afterword that I was contemplating a reroute and that we still had about 80 miles at the end to look at as well. I did end up doing that reroute and it came out to almost the same mileage as before. Tentatively it is 1.7 miles shorter. We have to check that out, but that will likely be about right.
The main reason I did the reroute was to get a convenience store in at about the Checkpoint #2 area, so riders going into the night on Saturday would have a chance to resupply. This reroute should take care of that issue. Secondarily, I didn't like the bits of pavement we were being forced into using, and this reroute erases a lot of that. It does add in some more dirt road though. Oh well......
Look for a full recon report Monday and along with that a bit of an outlook on the Veteran's registration opening up next week. I know that the registration this week wasn't all that exciting, but I have a feeling that next week we will see the category filled in two days or less. In fact, I wouldn't at all be surprised to find that the category fills up in a day. It is going to be nuts, I think. I just have seen a lot of cards posted to Facebook over the week, and while I didn't keep track, I bet I saw at least a dozen cards shown. That is one third of the allotment right there!
Okay, the brake upgrade was well worth the effort. Oh my! The difference between the Avid Elixir 9's and these "entry level" Maguras is night and day. The Maguras have twice the stopping power- maybe more, with waaaay less effort at the lever. Did I mention that they are quiet? Yes. Really. Very. Quiet.
I ordered up the Surly OD crankset, so when that gets in, all I have to do is get a new chain, and I am pretty sure the cassette is still okay, but yeah.... I am going against what I would recommend here, but I am going to try to run the old cassette. I think I can make it work. If not, I'll know pretty quickly, I think! The bottom line is that after measuring up the crank I have now, the OD will give me just about every gear combination without tire rub, and maybe all of them. It'll be very close.
The old crank and bottom bracket will go into the parts bin awaiting the rebuild of the Snow Dog. I am almost certain that will be a triple crank set up. I originally had a triple set up on the Snow Dog and I remember really liking it. More updates later......
I also ordered up a new steel free hub body for the Fargo Gen 1 which should get that rig back on the trails here soon. The minimal amount of weight gained by going with a steel free hub body will be easily off set by allowing me to use any cassette with single cogs and avoid the dreaded "digging in" that occurs with the aluminum free hub body. Convenience, and ease of maintenance. Win-win, as they say. I suspect the ol' Hope hub will be happily "clackety-clacking" along again. Those Hope hubs are definitely not quiet!
Besides the hub upgrade/repair, I have to inject a bit of sealant into the tires for Winter, and then see if I can fit the Cascadia fenders back over those big Kenda Honey Badger tires. I may have to resort to a clip on arrangement for keeping things clean over the Winter, but at any rate, I feel like this Winter I may actually have a significant amount of miles on this rig. We're not supposed to be so snowy they say, so fat biking to work may not be always a necessity, or desirable. We'll see.
Okay, it's cold, windy, and getting more like Winter, but there is no bad weather for cycling, only poor clothing choices! Get out there!
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