Winter time planning

Winter. I still love it and getting outside. But one of the side effects of shorter days is the reflective moments that seem to come with the darkness. Now the days are getting longer and planning starts.

I have always loved travel and the outdoors during winter. I remember spending hours outside in my mid-twenties building outlaw mountain biking trails in a local park.

I know it’s not cool to some people. But trails are the connection that we all need to nature. By doing it in winter, there was a lot less of a chance that I would get caught. Really, who the heck goes out in 20-degree weather to cut a path in the woods. Might be the reason I never got caught.

The beauty of it is that the trails that I cut are still there. Even if bikes are still banned on them. It’s one of those places where there really wasn’t a good reason for it. No wildlife habitat, or rare nesting birds. Think it had more to do with the chap that owned the land before the city took it over. That guy hated mountain bikes.

Now I live in a state that has a lot more trails, and groups that help maintain them. Plus it is 25 years later and mountain bikes have become much more accepted, and are seen as another user of multi-use trail systems.

I spend the winters planning where I want to go, fixing up bikes, and sorting out gear now. Reviewing the gear gives you a good idea of what works and what needs improvement. I usually don’t plan on lots of purchases to gear and upgrades. I prefer to keep it simple, use up the things that I have, and put more focus and money into where I want to go.

I afford one big upgrade a year. This year it’s a new wheelset.

I’m riding a 2017 Marin Hawk Hill 1. It’s the first full-suspension bike that I have ever owned. The base model came with the option to upgrade to a rear thru-skewer. This year I finally got around to the wheel upgrade. Last year I upgraded to a dropper seat post. Huge game-changer.

I went with DT Swiss M1900. It’s the lowest cost mountain wheelset that DT Swiss makes, running about $450 for the set. I could have opted for the next level up, but it would have been nearly doubling the price. Sure it would have been an upgrade, especially with the cassette body on the rear hub. But this year I would rather take that part of the budget and put it into bike trips.

I’m running center-lock rotors and a 1×10 Shimano system. The M1900 set comes with the 6-bolt adapter if I change brakes later. And if I need to, I can swap out the cassette body to a Sram XD or another model.

But I don’t expect to really do that soon, but the option is there.

I’m not a person that will spend too much to save weight. I like things in the middle of the price range. Finding that balance between cost, performance, and durability. I’m not going to spend money on weight savings, I’m a thin guy already. I got grams in the bank.

I will let you all know how these fair by the end of the summer.