Fixed in the Fog

With the boys at my parents and Kate likely to sleep in, I was looking forward to slipping out this morning for a nice road ride. Unfortunately, I woke up to dense fog, so I skipped the road and just did my loop through the Metro Park. I was on ye Old Trek 620:

I've been appreciating this bike more as I ride it more, and get my setup dialed in:

I like these simple, honest lugs over the dandified cut out types that many people drool over:

The rear wheel is my super deluxe freehub that Brian welded together to "fix" it:

I've been riding ye Olde Trek back to back with my Cross Check quite a bit lately. Functionally, the Trek doesn't have the tire clearance of the CC:

 

Or the gearing adjustment range:

I haven't played with this too much yet, but I'm guessing the Trek's dropout slot is long enough for a three or four tooth change, where the CC can do six. But these two points aside, the lighter tubing (8/5/8 x 25.4 OD top tube vs. 9/6/9 28.6 OD top tube), and the lower trail front end (49mm vs. 66mm) give the Trek a much lighter, livelier feel on the road.

I'm also thinking about a 650B conversion as a way to improve tire clearance on the Trek.

If I had to decide today, I think I would keep the Trek over the CC. That's kind of hard to say, since I've had many good rides over the years on my Surly, but my tastes keep evolving.

 

The CC isn't for sale yet--I still want to keep it around for some more comparos. Stay tuned later this spring.

As I rode through the park, I came across this bench with what is probably a Mother's Day memorial:

I made my mom tacos for lunch instead... Happy Mother's Day!

>>>>>>>>>

Apropos of nothing, Kate and I went to the new REI in town this morning. Mostly I just wanted to show this picture of Kate while we waited for the store to open:

Nice store, quite a large bike area, they seemed to carry mostly Novara and Scott bikes. If REI also sold groceries and books, I might not need to go to any other store.