"Fair" Weather

The rain has finally stopped for a bit though Fall temperatures may have arrived a bit early. The Tanana Valley State Fair starts tomorrow so that means that there is a high probability of rain all next week. Today though, it was too nice of a morning to head straight in to the university so I turned left instead of right when leaving the subdivision. Mid 40s (°F) felt just right after the blistering temperatures on the east coast a few weeks back. Taking the scenic route in was just what I needed as I wasn't getting very many miles on the bike this Summer. Too many trips out of the state, I'm told. This snapshot is from the nice bench next to my building overlooking the Tanana Valley towards the Alaska Range. I tried the "Clarity" option in the Camera+ app. I'm not sure I like the effect but I do like how it brought out the mountains.

I now have about 400 miles on the Heidenau K60 tires and thought I could say a few words about them. When they were first installed, handling seemed way different from what I was used to. I think I was used to old, worn out tires with really hard rubber. On wet or dry pavement, the K60s grip the road really well and are confidence inspiring. What originally felt like really "twitchy" handling is in reality easier steering. It takes very little pressure on the bars to change direction and I just wasn't used to that at all. The tread pattern is really "open" but nowhere near knobbies. I can't feel any additional vibration through the grips or the pegs though you can definitely hear them. Shawn from Adventure Cycleworks mentioned that the sidewalls are really stiff (making them a real pain to work with) so I may want to pick up a set of long tire spoons. He also mentioned that you can safely run the air pressure really low if there was a need. I haven't had much opportunity to try them on gravel. Hopefully we'll get a couple of clear, dry days as I still want to head north aways.

The nice weather brought out many more riders today as evidenced by the number of bikes in the motorcycle parking area. Yesterday, there were only three Beemers. I was really tempted to take the day off especially since I will be working both this coming Sunday and the following Saturday up north. I think others are feeling that Fall is coming and want to get in some riding. I guess I must be getting old as it feels like the riding season had just started. Time is passing really quickly. On my ride home yesterday, I must have passed a couple dozen riders which is way more than usual. A handful of out of state ADV types but most were local.