Now to be fair, I had chores around the house. I had a recycling run, which actually also was a bike ride, and made use of my Big Dummy. Then that darn grass keeps growing, so I mowed. Then it was a bit of further yard work, ending with a late lunch, and a bit of repose to allow the internals to acclimate to the food load. After that, it was riding time.
The winds were out of the Southeast, so I decided to go on ahead and head right into them. Same ol' roads as I've done a million times before, so there isn't much to say about the views other than that things are greening up nicely and the fields are all showing corn sprouts that have been planted with corn. There still are a few fields laying untouched and I imagine those will be getting beans, perhaps, soon. Maybe. I'm not an expert at farming, so don't take my word for it!
We had rain, and it was a pretty hard rain, earlier in the week. That seems to have turned the roads to smooth, dirt two-track, or it had allowed the gravel to wash away, because the roads were clear and fast. Well, for the most part. There were some chunky sections here and there. That was okay, as I tried something different in regard to the bike I was riding which seemed to be quite effective.
The Stormchaser fitted with 700c X 50 Donnelly MSO tires. |
A ditch flower other than a dandelion. |
Not that dandelions are bad, they just dominate the ditches early in the season. |
My left laces were misbehaving! |
Heading back with the wind under darkening skies. |
I wound my way back through busier city streets than I've seen in a while. The state has lifted many restrictions now and traffic is picking up once again. In some ways, it's nice to see some return to 'normalcy', but in other ways I was really kind of getting to like the dampened traffic counts and mostly empty side streets. Now I have to start remembering that cars are everywhere again and the streets are not going to be very safe anymore.
At least nothing much has changed out in the country. I don't have to really worry about cars and trucks much. Of course, you still have to keep an eye out for possibilities of traffic, but generally speaking, no one is out to get you in the country. Not like it seems to be in town.
The tire experiment worked well on the Stormchaser. I think if this were my bike, these tires, or something else as big as these, would be what would live on there. That stiff front fork needs something to give the rider relief, and a big, comfy tire seems to be just enough to make the bike ride well. I suppose a suspension stem would be okay if you ran skinnier tires, but I'd likely just keep the bigger skins on here if it we up to me.
Welcome to the low life. Those tire pressures sound about right, even for mtb. A guy my size would be somewhere around 18psi or less. Fat bike tire pressure does not even register on any gauges I have tried. I have been looking at something recent and wondering if you have access to it would you for science try a comparison? Salsa Stormchaser versus Cannondale CAAD X. It may seem like on the surface they are different until you consider the frame vibration terms are different, but the same.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your impressions of the riding position of the Stornchaser? It seems like most of your bikes (personal rides) have very little difference in saddle height and bar height. The 'Chaser has a lot of differential there.Any back issues from it? I tend to ride flats and drops almost exclusively, seldom on the hoods. The Sales would be set up perfectly for my own preferences.
ReplyDelete@Gravelo - I have bikes with positioning all over the place, actually. No two are alike, with the exception perhaps of my Fargo Gen I and the BMC MCD which are very similar to each other.
ReplyDeleteOf my bikes, the Noble GX5 is the closest to the Stormchaser, but even the Stormchaser is set up a bit lower in front. The Stormchaser has the lowest stack height of any bike I have currently and has one spacer above the stem to boot. Very aggressively set up.
I'm pretty flexible and riding in the drops on the Stormchaser is no problem for me. It'd take some training on the bike, but I know eventually I could probably do a century distance on it.