Is Winter Here Now?

Sure, the weather turned last week, but an inch of snow with daytime temps in the single digits on the plus side of freezing does not make “winter”.

This weekend may have changed my mind. It has snowed off and on since Friday and the high temperatures each day was below freezing. It’s not a lot of snow on the ground, but the snow and the cold brought any outdoor plans to a halt. Both BCC rides were cancelled, even though we have a history of riding even when the conditions are marginal. I have activated my Zwift account for the winter and riding in the bonus room. There’s a pretty decent chance that the weather will return to normal before winter truly has us in its grip, but I’m not going to get my hopes up.

In other news, We have ordered two bikes from Bow Cycle. Yes, two. 😁 One for me and one for Ian.

Ian needs a new bike to ride to school/with friends/other mucking about. This summer, he put a lot of miles on his Cube 240 that we bought for him in 2017. The rides didn’t all end well, but we’ll chalk that one up to experience. Ian has grown a fair bit since 2017, and the bike isn’t big enough any more. Ian and I talked about what he wanted, and it’s a replacement for the Cube. His Giant road bike should be fine for 2021 at least.

For me, I was considering a gravel bike all year. In fact, in a normal year I might have looked into one for the start of the 2020 season but with the pandemic, the delayed start of the club season and then the extra responsibilities to keep everyone safe, I didn’t. But late this year, Tammy and I talked it over and I had a green light to get one for next year. The BCC started gravel rides last year and they really took off this year.

What’s a gravel bike? It’s a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike. It comes out of the European tradition of cyclocross racing, but not having to follow the strict bike rules of cyclocross racing. Imagine a road bike that’s more rugged, with relaxed geometry and knobby tires for a mix of dirt and paved roads, with some trails mixed in.

Why order now, just as the snow starts flying? Because one of the unforeseeable side-effects of the pandemic has been a shortage of bikes.

The pandemic has rearranged so many parts of this economy it’s hard to keep up. But we can add one more: bikes. There is a national — international, even — bike shortage. It’s been going on for months and will continue to go on for months. It says a lot about how many of us are coping with pandemic reality, and says a lot about supply chains too. If you have been to a bike store recently, you’ve probably seen some disappointed people.

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Knowing this, I originally thought that I was “ahead of the curve” when reaching out to Kurt at Bow about buying bikes to be ready for 2021. Turns out I was wrong. Bikes are back-ordered.

The first bike that I got in touch with Kurt about was the gravel bike. I wanted to take a look at the Norco Search XR S2, a steel-framed bike. When the reply came back, I was somewhat shocked that by ordering now, I would get the bike in May next year. 😱

I figured that might only be because this is a bit of a niche bike, but surely Ian’s mountain bike wouldn’t be that bad. Wrong. We ordered the Norco Storm 1 in a nice red, but when Kurt replied, it wasn’t good. The earliest we could expect that would be September 2021.

He made a couple of suggestions of other bikes that we might have more luck with, and Ian and I settled on either a Specialized Rock Hopper or a Kona Fire Mountain. As it turned out, the Fire Mountain was actually available by November 2020! So Ian will actually be the first one to get the bike, assuming that when it arrives it is one that he likes.

So the moral of the story is, if you want a bike for next year, maybe you should call up your local bike shop and talk about ordering something…

Updated March 9, 2021

I got an unwelcome text from Kurt this afternoon.

You’re going to hate me. Your Search got pushed to Aug/Sept…. No one got the bike ahead of you.

I asked if there were any alternatives, and he came back with a $6700 Specialized Diverge. There’s a big difference between being willing to buy a moderately-priced gravel bike to try it out and dropping seven large ones on a bike… I guess I will have to wait.

Updated July 26, 2021

It’s finally here!