Most of the snow and ice in downtown Minsk has melted now and I’ve been eager to get my bike onto the road. Finally, this morning I took that opportunity. When I first thought of this the outdoor temperature had climbed to plus 1, just above freezing. I wanted to allow the sidewalks a bit more time to thaw out from last night so I started by switching my tires front to back.
Cyclists sometimes rotate their tires because the back ones wear out faster than the front ones. Since I can’t buy matching tires, I wanted to move my old front tire to the back and get both tires reasonably worn before installing two new ones. This endeavor took longer than usual because my tires have steel beads and they fit very tightly on the rims. First I tried removing the tires the “right” way by hand, but I just couldn’t force the bead over the rim enough to get it off. I tried a magical combination of swear words which, the first time I saw it used, appeared to give super-human strength. I still failed. Finally I resorted to tire levers. Real cyclists don’t use tire levers because they tend to damage tires. I used to be a real cyclist too, but this time I needed the tire levers and the magical combination of swear words in order to get the tire off. Normally I don’t swear and I really don’t like tire levers, but I had no choice in order to ride today.
Next I put on a pair of bib shorts, tights, and two thermal undershirts. I don’t have a winter bike jacket here so I had to layer up. Finally I tried to put on a long-sleeve bike shirt I shrank a couple of years ago by washing it in hot water. I had a hard time getting it on and Alla advised me in Russian that the shirt was too narrow, using the English word for narrow. I corrected her with a little Russian poem rhyming the words Russian and narrow, which amused her no end. At this point I had to rush out of the house because all those clothes began to overheat me even before I put on my skull cap and windbreaker.
It was worth it. The bike path is largely free from snow and ice in the direction I rode, and I didn’t even have to dodge a whole lot of broken glass. I got as far as the cross-country ski track at Drozde, which is also almost completely free of snow. I guess they didn’t add any man-made snow this year. I was hoping to discover that they had magically preserved enough snow to ski on, but it looks like roller-ski season will arrive early this year. Unfortunately the bike path had more snow than the ski track at this point, or at least I encountered a low area with too much snow to ride through. Nevertheless, I got far enough to feel that I’ve officially opened my cycling season and I’m looking forward to more.
Cyclists sometimes rotate their tires because the back ones wear out faster than the front ones. Since I can’t buy matching tires, I wanted to move my old front tire to the back and get both tires reasonably worn before installing two new ones. This endeavor took longer than usual because my tires have steel beads and they fit very tightly on the rims. First I tried removing the tires the “right” way by hand, but I just couldn’t force the bead over the rim enough to get it off. I tried a magical combination of swear words which, the first time I saw it used, appeared to give super-human strength. I still failed. Finally I resorted to tire levers. Real cyclists don’t use tire levers because they tend to damage tires. I used to be a real cyclist too, but this time I needed the tire levers and the magical combination of swear words in order to get the tire off. Normally I don’t swear and I really don’t like tire levers, but I had no choice in order to ride today.
Next I put on a pair of bib shorts, tights, and two thermal undershirts. I don’t have a winter bike jacket here so I had to layer up. Finally I tried to put on a long-sleeve bike shirt I shrank a couple of years ago by washing it in hot water. I had a hard time getting it on and Alla advised me in Russian that the shirt was too narrow, using the English word for narrow. I corrected her with a little Russian poem rhyming the words Russian and narrow, which amused her no end. At this point I had to rush out of the house because all those clothes began to overheat me even before I put on my skull cap and windbreaker.
It was worth it. The bike path is largely free from snow and ice in the direction I rode, and I didn’t even have to dodge a whole lot of broken glass. I got as far as the cross-country ski track at Drozde, which is also almost completely free of snow. I guess they didn’t add any man-made snow this year. I was hoping to discover that they had magically preserved enough snow to ski on, but it looks like roller-ski season will arrive early this year. Unfortunately the bike path had more snow than the ski track at this point, or at least I encountered a low area with too much snow to ride through. Nevertheless, I got far enough to feel that I’ve officially opened my cycling season and I’m looking forward to more.
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