Warning! Bike Geek talk ahead

First off, this is a bit of an experiment. I am not a computer geek at all so I am posting this of my notebook instead of my regular computer. It is a trial run because for the first time I am going to carry this on tour and attempt to post on the road as I go.

Time to get the bike ready to go.
First thing is to change out my tires. I bought these Schwalbe Marathon Extremes two years ago to get me over some dirt roads  was going to be on. I ended up changing my route and only had a half day on dirt so when I got home I put my conti's back on for day to day commuting. This tour will have two days of dirt, so back on they go.

They have a good tred to keep me upright on dirt. A little clunkier ride on pavement but not enough to fret over. Pumped up to 80 lbs for pavement they roll along just fine. A little noisier I guess. I also put new slime tubes in. I needed a spare tube anyway, so now I have two spares with two new slimers!!
The other thing to do is put my front rack on. I have a Surly nice rack. It is a great, sturdy and tough rack,but with hindsight it might be a bit of overkill. I probably would have been fine with a light weight option. But, Surly bike so Surly rack was what I originally thought and there we go!

I went through the bike putting a wrench on every nut and bolt to make sure everything is secure. Total clean and lube. Put new pads on the front brakes for a confident feeling on some of the passes I'll be bombing down!!

Headed out this last Sunday for a last long ride chance to check it all out. Drove down to Lyons to do the loop up St Vrain Canyon, up to Ward and down Left Hand Canyon to complete the loop.
I got to feel a wide temperature gradient, came out of Lyons with hot sun, bike computer had 94 deg. I worked my way up the canyon as the clouds came in.
I turned off on  the Riverside/Raymond road and the thundershowers were building and the temp had cooled off nicely to 64 deg. I think, IMHO Riverside/Raymond ride just might be cycling heaven!

Nice road, no cars, easy grade, pretty with the St Vrain creek rushing next to you. Very peaceful.

Wild Roses in full bloom

About 3/4 of the way up to hook up with Hiway 72, Peak to Peak, you get to stop at the Raymond Store to have a snack and a drink. It is Rocky Mt old school!

I continued on up to Peak to Peak and got myself up to Peaceful Valley when is was time to make a weather call. Pretty dark and threatening clouds, did I really want to be up in Ward with lightning kicking around????
Decided not, and headed back to retrace my ride back down St. Vrain canyon. Pretty good ride, 42 miles and a solid 4.5 hours on the bike. Bike was great although I made the call of switching out my saddle. I put on my Brooks Imperial that has been on my Schwinn road bike. I can ride that saddle for long rides with comfort. My modified B-17 that was on Surly might be done after I did surgery on it two years ago. It just pinches me in the wrong places and we will leave it at that!!

Everybody have a great day!!
Jim