#1 reason to have a CX Bike!!!

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
I awoke to very questionable conditions on Sunday. Drive an hour and hope that the trails are good? Nah!!! I grab the cross bike and ride out my front door instead.

The mixed precip. from the day before was hard and frozen. This is what I encountered for the first 25 minutes of the ride.

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These conditions on the road mixed with some vehicle traffic was not cool. I headed straight for the D&R Canal in Lawrenceville. I often take this to Princeton. Today I went West towards Trenton.

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The tow-path is free of traffic and the crusty sleet/snow mix provided plenty of traction. The path is interrupted in Trenton so I had to go urban through the hood.

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The Canal still flows under the city. I just weaved around until I found it again. Trenton has been working on its revitalization. The areas along the canal look pretty good, IMO.

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I was glad I slowed down to take a pic at this bridge. The steel grating was covered in ice. I certainly would have gone down.

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Once out of the city, the path turns North. I rode up towards Washington's Crossing. The Delaware river was flowing strong from all the recent rains.

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Once in Titusville, I turned East away from the Delaware and started climbing. They had gotten more snow here but the roads were clear.

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I had planned my route to take advantage of the wind when I could. I went west and north along the flat canal in the trees. Then I popped out onto the roads and had a sweet tailwind all the way home.

I cruised through Pennington and Princeton on my way home. This is Nassau Street at 12:30.

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I was out for about 4 hours. I quick stop here and there for photos and BSing. Not too shabby considering the conditions. The CX bike earned its place in my stable on this day.
 
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warcricket

Like a Jerk
i made it about 5 miles out the door, crashed while cornering on a patch of ice, got discouraged and went home that day:(
 

THATmanMANNY

Well-Known Member
nice Ben

I just got back from the tow path a couple hours ago. It was nice. It woulda been even really really shweet if the moon was out too and I dig the full fenders.
 

GSTim

Formerly M3Tim
Ben,

What tires are those? They look like they have some serious knobbies. The used cross bike I just bought has Tufo tires, and they are nothing like that.

Tim
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
The Tufo's are more of a race tire and have a shallow arrow-type tread usually. Fast and furious on the course, not good for the road!! For this kind of riding knobs aren't 100% necessity. I've ridden the Conti Contact tires in a 30c through all the snow and ice we've gotten so far and have been super impressed at how well they hook up:D

Nice ride Ben!!

-Jim.
 

Maurice

New Member
Nice pics. They don't convey how cold it must have been. What's in those bottles? Something to stay warm? ;)
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Cool ride. Part of my weekend included my trying to finish up my cross bike only to have the BB totally STB. I've never seen it actually strip internally. So down in the basement it sits.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Cool ride. Part of my weekend included my trying to finish up my cross bike only to have the BB totally STB. I've never seen it actually strip internally. So down in the basement it sits.

the bb shell in the frame stripped? f!
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
The Kenda Kross Supreme 35 has the burliest tread of any cx tire I've seen. It's like a miniature all-mountain tire. I use them for off-season playing on the cross bike.
 

ArmyOfNone

Well-Known Member
Sorry I missed out on that!

For those looking for a tire option, I am running hutchinson pro series cross tires which are not too wide but have good tred to hook up when needed.
 

RacerChick

Hudson Valley Girl
New Ridley ...

Brand spankin new 09' Blue/Black Ridley Cross frame show'd up today. We're building her from scratch. JimV helped us out today at the High Gear store with a cable hanger. In a few days I'll take some pix to let ya peep it! She's gonna be purty.

RC ... :p
 

Wobbegong

Well-Known Member
Great write up and photos Ben. I love this kind of stuff.

I never passed thru the hood to keep rolling on the canal. Now I have a new mission. :)
 

The Kalmyk

Well-Known Member
Awesome Ben, This is right up my ally...I am throwing together an old steel frame that fits up cross tires for commutting and touring....I Did a ride on a huffy from New Brunswick to Frenchtown on the D&R and loved the Trenton section....I never knew I was that fast on a bike before
 
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