Sunday, January 1, 2023

2022 In Review

 


The Myth of Chevian Bicycling!  January 1, 2023.  Second night in a new bed and new bedroom thus a restless night's sleep.  The need for coffee finally overwhelms me and I arise at 6 am.  After taking care of the livestock, dog and cat, and brewing that precious coffee I go to my computer and make the final entry for 2022.  I'm lo-tech.  I use wired Cateye computers and enter the readings manually onto an Excel spreadsheet.  Then I send the documents to the Mothership somewhere in Cyberland.  Back in the early 1990s this was done on pen and paper.  My Excel Bike Log goes back to 1994.

A new year and a new task.  Record all the odometer readings for every bike ridden the previous year.  Start with December's entries and go through 2022 backwards.  This is the easiest way to get the final reading for each bike.  At least one bike had a computer stolen or broken and thus did not record every mile.  Interesting as going backwards through time reveals when the last ride for each bike was.

Of note:

Trek 520--552 miles last ridden on July 27th when we completed our ride across Minnesota.  I like to use this bicycle for its intended purpose, touring, not hauling beer for a 15 mile ride.

Tandems--we have two, one for touring and one fast one.  At time of purchase our most expensive bicycles.  Despite lots of miles in 2020 exploring empty trails during rides of "isolation" the Fisher Gemini did not roll once in 2022.  Our Cannondale RT3000 was ridden once for 39 miles in 2022.

Gravity Vanquish--single speed commuter accumulated 615 miles mostly on the daily 4 mile round trip to work and back.  It would have gathered more miles but it needs brake pads that for some reason I have not been arsed to order yet.

Verenti Substance--imported gravel/adventure bicycle that really has not seen gravel but makes a great all around bike from loaded touring with front and rear panniers to now fitted with studded tires for 3 months of dangerous conditions.  This bike took over commuting duty.  I added a gen hub lighting system thanks to Chris Cornelius selling me a set of wheels with the required hub.  It was the only bicycle I rode in November.  With the exception of another bike, the Verenti was the only bicycle I rode in December.

Trek FX 7.5-- 15 winters of commuter service.  167 miles.  I retired this bike last week.  Too much work ($) needs to go into it.  Frame looks damaged as well.  Removed its 45 studded tires.  I will purchase a disc braked hybrid sometime this year to replace it.

Highlights of riding this year:

RASDak--Ride Across South Dakota.  Takes 7 days.  Took my Domane and discovered that dual Iso Speed shock systems makes a flexy bike hat 39 mph when trying to get that 40+ mph.  When organized ride.  Place to stay every night and showers every day.  Imagine a well-organized Ragbrai with only 200 riders?  Paradise!

St Cloud, MN to Fargo, SD and back.  Two seamlessly interconnected paved trails for 140 miles with towns every 5 or 6 miles!  Flat, beautiful, peaceful.  Fergus Falls to Fargo and back, one day each way, on smooth empty county highways.  We did this instead of Ragbrai.  Need to do this again with friends.  "If you could just see the beauty, these things I can never describe."

My riding really died out toward the end of the year.  Seemed to rain every weekend.  I got salmonella during thanksgiving break.  Then it got cold.  Then the Arctic Blast dropped temperatures to -10°F.  Motivation?  There was none.  Knowing that the FX was dead and trying to determine which bike should get the studded tires also held me back.  Which bicycle to sacrifice?  A few months won't hurt, will it with all the salt and sand and dirty snow and freeze/thaw cycles...  2022 was my lowest mileage years since 2009.

So I plan to smoke some Hopium and ride more in 2023.  Take a chance and say I tried.



2 comments:

  1. Very interesting read. How do you keep track of that fleet?!

    ReplyDelete