I’ll admit that it feels a little funny to write those words as Santa Rosa experiences a final summer hurrah with highs in the 90s. This is an aberration, though, one that will pass days from now and by this time next week, our highs will only edge into the 70s.
When I lived in Southern California, I wore arm warmers from September to April and a vest from late November to mid-February. For a couple of weeks each winter I’d add long-finger gloves. That was it. No fenders, no other concessions to winter or wet.
Now, that may sound a little thick, but there’s a reason neither I nor my friends mounted fenders on our road bikes: It rained so rarely in Southern California that when it did, the asphalt turned slick as ice. So did the concrete bike path. So if it rained, we didn’t ride; the risk of falling was just too great. It’s worth noting that when people first told me that, I went pfft. They’re just soft. So the first time it rained that fall, I got on my bike and headed north on the bike path and at the very first 90-degree turn on the bike path, my bike went into a skid that I barely managed to keep upright. Once my heart rate dropped, I turned around and headed home.
While it’s a long way from winter in Santa Rosa, Seattle is definitely experiencing fall and temperatures in the 50s plus rain is my threshold for changing things up.
The first thing I do is mount fenders on one or more bicycles. My No. 22 Drifter has custom-made titanium fenders and I have to admit, when you’ve got fenders that fade from purple to gold, I kinda look for excuses to mount them. I’ve got another road bike that I mount fenders on as well as fenders for the mountain bike I keep in Seattle.
What’s changed
Perhaps the single biggest change I make relative to what little I did in the past, is that I replace all my disc brake pads. I was in Taiwan some years back on a descent in the rain and burned through my brake pads. To say I was terrified misses the point. I didn’t initially register what was going wrong, why I each time I braked it was taking longer and longer to slow down, the upshot being that my speed began to frighten me, and I could not fathom why going downhill would scare me and until I stopped and got my heart rate down, I couldn’t think critically about what was happening.
Prior to the advent of carbon rims, I replaced two, maybe three sets of brake pads—that’s in more than 100,000 miles of riding. Today, I can go through a set of disc brake pads in less than six months, especially if I’ve been riding in the rain. While it’s annoying to go through brake pads that can run $30 per pair, that thing where I can actually stop in wet conditions thanks to the combination of more rubber on the ground and brakes that still have power when wet.
Whether your running disc brakes or rim calipers, if you’re riding in wet conditions, go ahead and replace your brake pads.
I also switch from light, dry lubes to Finish Line’s wet lube. In our current climate of ever-lighter lubes, this has become more of an issue than it used to be. Even some of the chain waxes will wash off after only a couple of rides in the wet. Of the many lubes I’ve used in wet conditions, nothing has worked as well and been as easy to apply as Finish Line’s Wet Lube, and my standard is very specific. Granted, a thorough chain waxing will carry you for weeks or even months, but I find the process laborious.
What I’m looking for in a lube is something that will allow me to hang my bike up at the end of a wet ride and when I go to get on the bike the next day, the chain better not be rusty. Most lubes fail this test, even when I’ve applied them the chain the night before the ride.
I’m not one to dole out tricks and tips because I think what’s really worthwhile to talk about in cycling is so much bigger than “tips.” However, it is also true that nothing wears out parts faster than winter riding. You can avoid the thrills I experienced on that Taiwanese descent with just a few proactive choices.