As I chugged my way towards work this morning with my new friend, Cookie Gut, I was pleasantly greeted by a man in a truck with his window rolled down. Instead of the man saying "good morning winter cyclist and Cookie Gut, you are brave riding these snowy roads in the winter", he said, "get off the God-D@#^!d road you moron" and sped away.

First of all, he called it a God-D@#N!d road. Does this mean the road has been cursed by God? After I waved to him and cracked the biggest smile my cold cheeks could, I looked around and saw no sidewalks. So where did he expect me and Cookie Gut to ride?

Then there was the moron part, which refers to a very stupid person. I would like to know how he so quickly came to the conclusion that I was a moron. The only problem with this scenario is that Cookie Gut and I were not given the chance to ask this man what he meant by what he said. Perhaps the fumes from his truck were getting to his head? Or perhaps he had a new holiday friend called Egg Nog Head.

I guess I could just track down his phone number from his license plate and just ask him these things in person. Hmmmm, what would Al Franken do?

Dave wrote about his 3x9 Large Marged 1X1 the other day. Thought you might like some photos.

Currently has it set up with Nokian Gazzalodi 3.0 tires. He shaved the knobs (all of them). Easier rolling, but mainly did it so the tire would clear the stays. As you can see, it’s pretty close. The tires are run pretty low, about 10 psi.

The freehub of course allows him to put the cog where he needs it. It made it possible for him to run the cog way outboard and clear the tire while still maintaining good chainline.

Hi kids
Our good friend Ben sends this interesting link. Depending on your point of view this is either a well researched, thorough and informative piece which explores how (and to some degree why) to make Campy Ergolevers function on a Shimano drivetrain or it's further evidence to avoid derailleurs altogether.

We're still waiting on the final sample run of Large Marge rims. Luckily, the Interbike samples are ridable. They only lack the eyelets that the production rims will have.

A few weeks ago, I laced some Surly disc hubs (also Interbike samples) into the XC Large Marges....the XC version is hogged out to save weight. There will be a DH version with no cut-outs. I've put at least 400 miles on them using several different tires: WTB Motoraptor 2.4, IRC Lover's Soul 2.25, Hutchinson Mosquito 2.3, IRC Backcountry 2.25, and Panaracer Megablaster 2.5. I'm partial to the Megablasters, because they have the widest footprint per gram. Plus, the knobby pattern clears well, and they paddle well through the snow.

I hacked off the canti bosses on my 1x1 frame and fork, so I could easily get the wheels in and out. I can put 2.7" tires on the rims, and they'll clear the frame. A 3" tire will work in the fork. But, I can't find a 2.7" or 3" tire that is light enough for my taste. Specialized made some 3", single-ply Big Hit tires that weigh less 900 grams, but they are hard to find. I'll ride the Megablasters for a while.

Why would I want to ride around on relatively heavy 65mm-wide rims and wide tires? It's all about the footprint of the tire. A wide rim puts more rubber on the trail, and you are less likely to pinch flat when running low pressure in your tires. We've had freezing/thawing cycles here for the last few weeks, and most of the snow turned to ice. My wheels give me enough traction, without using studded tires, to confidently ride icy, snowy roads and off-road trails that would have been much more difficult, if not impassible, with narrower hoops.

Saturday night, I replaced my rear Surly hub with a SRAM 3x9 disc hub. I'm only using one cog on the freehub body, so I have a 3-speed using a 36t chainring (Surly stainless steel sample....these will be available in the spring) and a 20t Novatec cog. It's set up with the following gear inches (my tires measure 28" in diameter): 1st gear....37, 2nd....50, 3rd...69. That's high enough to commute on, and it's low enough to plow through the snow.

On Tuesday, I rode home in 5 inches of fresh snow, against a brisk headwind. My ride took an extra 45 minutes, but most of the delay was due to automotive traffic; I got hindered at intersections that were full of slow-moving herds of smog belchers. I had great traction for the majority of the ride, and I could stay in 2nd and 3rd gears much of the time. I passed quite a few white-knuckled soccer/hockey moms in their minivans. It turned out to be a wonderful ride.

Nick just built up the second sample set of Large Marges, and rode 'em in to work yesterday, post snowstorm. I wasn't in the office yesterday to talk to him, but his e-mail indicated that his ride went well. I have no doubt that it did.

Christian Kraemer , aka Phat Lizard, from the Old Country sends us news that the lovely and oft virtuous Sara Randle has won the GBBC Champ-een-chip Womens' title. GBBC stands for German Bike and Beer Championships. This is a direct quote from Christian's report:

"She showed up for the Glühwein-Race in Dresden - aka almost Poland - this last weekend and as the main goal was to drink as many mugs of Glühwein as possible sure enough there was no competition in sight that could stop Englands secret weapon from striking again!
Oh you don't know what Glühwein is? Let's see ...

1 L Red wine
125 ml Water
60 gr Sugar
1 Cinnamon stick
3 Cloves
1 tblsp Lemon peel"

Ouch. Say, that doesn't sound like beer at all... Find the English version here, and for those of you who like a bit more authenticity, try the one in german. Fair Sara races single speeds in the UK primarily, has tons of fun, is a blast to hang out with, and happens to ride a Surly quite a bit.

Also, this is as good a time as any to mention that the 2004 SSWC (I'm sure you all know by now, this would be accrinomical for the Single Speed World Championships) are to be held in BERLIN, Germany, August 20th through 22nd. Christian was also kind enough to send us the link to this website (such as it is), which may or may not provide more facts than I have just laid out. Christian seems to be some sort of german single speed coordination chairman. I'm not sure that's a good thing. Single speed doesn't lend itself well to coordination of any kind. Good info nonetheless. Thanks Phat C.

post script// Phat C write back "I am not a coordinator but a dictator - that seems to work great in Singlespeeding! Chipps proves it every year!"
Perhaps not the model I would recommend following, but he is quite the mad gent, that Chipps. Singletrack, the website hosting Phat's englitch write up of the GBBC, is Chipps' baby. Phat C also sends us this news about SSWC Berlin: "We have a Fatwreckchord-Band playing at the party, a bowling tournament and a SSp-Road-Race probably messenger style! Lots of reason to come - including road-trip to the alps and black forrest afterward!" Holy crap that sounds like fun, and I don't even know what a fatwreckchord band is! Who has an airplane we can use? Come on, pony up. We'll pay for gas!

Motivation to get on the bike in the winter isn't always present. Some days I'll wake up, look outside at the thermometer and say, 30 degrees F is pretty cold. But by mid-winter, 30 degrees starts to sound pretty warm. There is something amazing that happens once you get on your bike. Instantly I forget how cold it is, why I wasn't motivated 20 minutes ago and that I'm getting strange looks from people in their cars. It's somewhat surreal riding through fresh snow, seeing that other bikes have been on the road before you, making tracks of your own, hitting soft patches of snow that make the tires silent. It's days like today when I truly feel sorry for all those folks that choose to drive everyday and don't understand why we ride our bikes year round. What looks crazier to you, riding a bike through the snow or riding a stationary bike in a gym while going nowhere ?

yo peeps, check this out. live to ride.

Shouldn't you be out riding a bike instead of reading about them?