October 29th (Morning)

It was warmer again (6°), and even dry this morning (only 82% humidity as compared to 100% the rest of the week), but my hands and feet were mighty cold by the end of the ride! Strange…

It was an OK ride. I wasn’t feeling as strong and fast as I did yesterday, although I still managed a respectable time in the end. But there was a lot more pain this morning than yesterday!

I went into Bicycle Cafe again last night to ask them about chain lubricants. I figured I needed some local riding opinions on what works best in these conditions, because the bottle I have now I basically need to rig it up so it’s dripping on the chain my entire ride just so it will stay lubricated! The lady at Cafe was a bit funny, first of all asking if I needed help with picking a lube… “errr… chain lubricant I mean…” I told her that I was needing a local’s opinion on what worked best in conditions like this week. She at first asked me what type of riding I did (“Dirt and trails mostly, 25% streets getting to and from the trails” I responded). Ok, then she wanted to know how much riding (to which I replied “Every day, to and from work, mornings and evenings.”). Suddenly she perked up and clapped her hands, “Oh goodie! I finally get to sell the wet condition lubricant!” I kind of laughed at her exuberance, and she explained that as most of the riders are packing up their bikes once the weather turns sour, she never gets to sell much of the wet condition lubricant. So for some reason that was exciting to her… She grabbed a bottle of Finish Line WET Lube and explained that this was a perfect lubricant for the wet and cold winter riding in Kamloops. It was thick, very water resistant, and it hangs onto the chain like no other. She noted that using a dry lube means you have to lube the chain 2 or 3 times per ride just to keep on top of it (yep, noticed that). However, she cautioned, it was NOT a good dry climate lubricant. So when the weather turns to Summer and the Kamloops desert comes out to play, I have to get it off or it will simply attract all the dust and gum everything up and wear it all down even worse. For that, she recommended the Finish Line DRY Lube instead, which I’ll probably get for next season as it is $2 a bottle cheaper than the wax one I’m using now from Taboo! Yes, I’m that cheap!

So, I picked up a bottle and tried it this morning and for sure the chain ran smooth and quiet the entire ride. Well, as smooth as it could ride as I didn’t clean the chain first, which I should’ve. However, it is indeed very gummy. The chain is black now, but I guess that will be the price of riding in this weather. I will see how hard it is to clean over the weekend. I did like the wax for cleaning, as I could pretty much touch the chain after a week and not get too greasy. This looks like I’ll be staining pants and shirts like crazy with chain and cog marks all winter… Oh well!