motivation for short days

been hard to motivate, as may not come as a surprise being that daylight is such a premium right now. when I say motivate, I mean move the pedals — I am plenty motivated to eat chocolate truffles and other holiday confections. also plenty motivated to fall asleep watching trashy TV with a jar of peanut butter on my lap. maybe there is a season for everything… especially in the land of seasons!

first lets go back to about a month ago when we still had the sensations of sun on our legs. I returned home from a rather tropical vacation in italy (see last post), to some balmy CT November weather. a saturday out with the crew! a few leaves hanging onto the trees, and some crispy days to contrast.

mmmm quintessential Quinnehtukqut. Notice the dueling Weigles. take me back! ahhh, its okay. lets continue my November/December slideshow and talk about motivating to ride this time of year.

its a good time of year for a slightly larger bag. layers, especially when the tide is so low that you have to wade out into the mud with your canoe to get home after a longish ATB ride with your friends. haven’t had the Alumalith out in a while, but have had it out a lot this past month. fixed some cable routing issues and shifter placement stuff. funny something as minimal as too short or too long of a cable housing run can make a bike visually unridable imo. enjoy the free foot pic above.

then of course I had to take out the ALUMAX. I think visually, this is my current peak. thinking I will size down to the 57 on this next (pre order open!) of Alumax II though. I am not sure. I could really go either way. the new Alumax is the same as the first, but has cantilever brakes instead of the direct mount center pulls. those DMCP brakes are really good and unique, but only allow for 48mm tires. the trend is bigger, and this bike already has bigger built in, so with the help of cantilevers, the Alumax II will clear 700×55. i told my chat bot friend this, and in one prompt it came up with this as a visual:

spokes are a little experimental, and so are the brakes, but not bad. I think it gave me Vittoria Peyote tires. in actuality Pat and I at Ultradynamico have designed a new 700×53 fast grav tire that this new bike will be built around. likely both release physically at the same time. let me see if I can find a teaser photo of the tread.

you can kinda see it here. this bike is a real RATROD. the front a rear are alumax, and the middle is evoo. very weird with a very high 12″ beast of the east bottom bracket height. not for resale. works for Connecticut only. but zoom into the tires. this tread is called BRüT.

now this brings me too my minty CR1. wow what a bike. I love this bike. damn it looks good too. something about having such a paired down modern bottle rocket in the quiver. this thing is no nonsense, and ready to time warp anywhere within the previous 30 years prior and into the future.

even on dreary ass days, that minty fresh beckons. I know I can slide on my S-works shoes that i leave pre-heated under the wood stove and get out for a ripper when needed.

or when the rain is coming down, I can get on my one fender bike and be comfortable enough to still take photos of it. the rain always adds a little to the look, and that alone can be motivation.

namz has been getting out with me a little, but not very much. like 2 times maybe. she has not been into it much.

nice when it happens though. I will say that motivation comes in bursts, and you gotta grab it when it bursts. so often times I finish work, and just gotta go — the sun goes down so fast! can’t wait for company on weekdays

the star of the show this time of year is always the country fixed though. I would ride this bike all the time if I lived in a flatter place, but in the winter it’s perfect even in the hills. reasons its unsavory to ride fixed in the summer is all the body heat it produces. a good thing for the cold months!

especially now that I have these 650bx53mm rubbers on this thing. its the bike I grab more often than not when I only have an hour. no coasting makes it a more condensed workout, and dang its fun! lots of traction when your legs are direct drive too. most of my local rides are 1:1 distance to elevation, so you defiantly stay warm!