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Today I headed out towards River Bends to try out the studded tires on the single speed (VooDoo Dambala), but as the sidewalk was more impassible than I’d thought I ended up riding around the partially-iced roads in local neighborhoods. The Nokian Gazza Extreme W294 studded tires worked out very well, but problems on the sidewalk showed that a geared bike is likely a better choice for deep snow winter riding. (Being able to shift down to a very low gear and slowly push forward through deep snow is rather nice.)
While riding around the neighborhoods I was able to get a bit over 10 miles in and explore some areas I hadn’t been to before. Not long before getting back home I felt like I was having a harder (than normal) time pedaling, but wrote it off as winter riding on super-knobby tires making me tired. It was only once I got home that I noticed an extreme amount of drag when pedaling backward. removing the chain showed that the cranks were rather hard to turn; a sign that the bottom bracket has failed. After sitting and warming slightly things are moving a bit more freely, but I think I’ll be replacing it before the next ride. Unfortunately it’s an Octalink [Edit] ISIS Drive, which may be a little harder to find.
One upside was that the CamelBak Podium Chill bottle that I was given at Iceman did a fine job of keeping my beverage from freezing during the ride. I’m still not convinced that insulated bottles are useful during the summer, but if they keep beverages from freezing in winter I’ll probably keep using them.
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