School's Out For Summer.

Some times you just feel like being a little wacky.

On Monday, I felt the urge to throw some knobby cross tires on my single speed road bike and ride it up to Annadel. I used my new single speed rear wheel and my oh-so-blingy front cross wheel that I am almost embarrassed to ride in public (it's got a shiny gold Velocity rim). The front wheel had just a little clearance issue with the fork, so I had to tighten down the QR with the axle a little low in the fork ends. That was the easy part, as the rear wheel took some coaxing to get clearance between the knobby tire and the seat and chain stays. Some credit cards sandwiched between the tire and stays seemed to do the trick, and some frustrated wrenching and 20 minutes later, the wheel spun freely. I also had stuck an old 39 tooth chainring on the crank to pair with the 16-tooth freewheel. I figured that this was a good balance of gearing for being able to ride to Santa Rosa from Rohnert Park and climb the hills at Annadel.

Riding this bike at Annadel was a great amount of fun! The gearing was a little tough, but I made it most of the way up Spring Creek before I had to push it. I saw a few people I know riding around and for some reason they didn't seem too surprised to see me on that bike. Other people who passed by had rather funny and perplexed faces. Richardson trail was really fun on this bike, as it is smooth and gradual. I felt like I was going much faster on this trail than I typically do on my mountain bike.

I had a slow leak that I kept pumping up every few miles. I replaced the tube with a 700x18/23c tube that I had in my seat bag and it seemed to work fine in the 35mm wide tire. Although, the region around the valve stem is a little iffy feeling.

I like the idea of being able to use a bike for multiple purposes, whether it be commuting, road riding, taking it offroad, or just riding around town. I think it would be cool to have a 29-inch mountain bike set up with more of a cross feel. Some higher pressure, but still knobby, tires would do the trick. A Surly Karate Monkey with drop bars and an internally geared hub would be a pretty fun bike, I think.