SPRING
Featured
One weekend, two dirt races. BORCA’s Spring Chicken Enduro MTB race, and OBC’s Almonte Paris-Roubaix are the perfect pairing for weekend of racing bikes on dirt.
Do I really need to care how many people go into the first mud-chute? No, I don't. The final climb isn't my forte, but the preceding mud chutes and trail are, so my best strategy is to arrive at the entry to the first chute as fresh as possible and drill it from there.
The crushed gravel under my tires replaced hardened steel and creosote-marinated wood years ago. Today's remnant of an artery once vital to eastern Canada's transportation network recedes into the horizon ahead, cool, yet infernal wind pushing against every leeward, straining square millimeter of my body. This is bike racing. This is why I'm here. This hurts. I want to stop.
How often do products actually live up to their name? Meet Castelli’s Unlimited Puffy jacket.
There’s what I’d consider the ‘proper’ way to clean a bike after a winter ride, then there’s the ‘best-can-do’ way. The former will protect your bike from salt damage to the greatest extend possible, limiting damage to the whatever drivetrain grinding might occur during the ride itself. The ‘best-can-do’ method is likely to allow salt to reside on the bike in hard to access places, and do harm over time.
For those with ample supplies of motivation and zeal, but insufficient kit for spring riding, this is a short guide to a selection of key pieces from Castelli. Quality cycling kit is expensive, so I hope this helps inform decisions that lead to many hours of happy riding, not regrets.
I try to paint a picture here that’s more about building a holistic understanding of the environment you’re riding, and a degree of ‘mastery’ around decision-making than about telling you which tires you should buy. That’s the last thing I want to do. I want to help you develop a deep understanding of the requirements you’re working with, which you can then assess against your priorities. This will ground good decision-making.
The devil is in the details, right‽ A garbage bag is wind and waterproof. A wool sweater underneath is warm. Poke some holes in strategic locations and the whole shebang is ‘breathable.’ There are metrics used to define each of these parameters, but that’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down. There is too much going on with the Alpha RoS 2’s design, materials, and construction to reduce its discussion to metrics that might be worth focusing on in the case of a shell. Instead, I discuss the elements that comprise a system that is very effective in the use-range its intended to perform within.
There’s no one ideal solution for every ride, let alone every rider. Lake’s mission is to create something for everyone when it comes to shoes and boots, but this doesn’t mean that every model is for everyone. I hope what follows guides you toward the option/s that help you get out the door, and wind up glad you did.