Commuting on my Tricross is easy. Throw everything into panniers, slide the panniers into position on the luggage rack, and go. I thought of migrating the pannier to the Moots but for now I need to learn the new cargo holds.
First things first, gotta look decent at the office including shower and deodorant. Pack that into a bag for convenience. It, a bike lock, and rain hood fit easily into the trunk bag.
Next up the odds and ends that need to be more easily accessible. These include multitool, first aid kit, tire levers, ear warmers, glasses, head lamp, fingerless riding gloves, and plenty of calories. All of this fits into the frame bag with room to spare.
The ride in was uneventful. One standout is slower pace. Turning the 29ers takes more work and is currently slower. I have a new appreciation for jeep engines when subjected to oversize tires. My normal casual 33 minute ride took 37. There is some real training to happen here. I still need to migrate a rear facing red blinky for road riding.
Days are getting longer. I had enough daylight for a quick trip through the Cisco mountain biking trails after work but before commuting home. The 29er is a lot of tire. It eats up trail obstacles. Unlocking only the front fork rolled easily over rooty terrain. I am still loose on handling so I skipped riding the narrow planks. Lincoln, the bike builder, did a great job getting a low granny gear as requested. With a little practice the Moots will be a great trail machine. I peaked out the trees into the setting sun to start the commute home. Conveniently I finally found a route home that includes all greenways and bike lanes. It's a bit longer to start with and I made it even longer to get more miles.
This is a wrap on January. To get 2700 miles before June I need 540 miles per month. I hit 470 in January. It could be better but not a bad start at all.
Monday I forwent riding for recovery and for specialized training, namely stairs. I did around 1400 stairs. At 5" per stair that is only 500ish feet of climbing but boy was I feeling it. I need to interleave more stairs into my days, possibly do stairs at duke stadium on the weekend, and really look for more climbing. Several training tips say "Climb everything you can find. Then climb it again."
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