Trail Mix — sam way explores

Summer has been flying by (my first draft of this was from August and it’s still technically summer) and I’m hanging on for dear life. The last few weeks were spent taking care of the bikes, getting them both in for tune-ups, and then prepping the Pack Rat for the solo cycle tour that I planned for myself (and then the weeks after the trip were spent avoiding lots of things, like writing this post)!

Bicycle Prep:

I took the Pack Rat in to Bicycle Roots for a tune-up and there weren’t any major issues - the wheels needed truing, the derailleur required a small adjustment (after I dropped it on the drive side IN the bike shop…), the brake pads were dry rotted (original from when I bought the bike used, so I’d say they lasted) and the tires were on their way out. I wasn’t sure which tires I wanted to replace the existing ones with so Bicycle Roots took care of the rest and I left with some new bar tape and a pedal wrench. I eventually wound up deciding on another pair of Panaracers and went with the Panaracer T-Serv ProTite Folding Urban/Commuter tire after reading that a lot of gravel riders were using them. I also switched out my flat pedals for the Shimano PD-T421 pedal (it took me TWO days of trying to get my drive side pedal off 😅), so I can clip in on one side or ride in regular shoes on the other. I have a similar style pedal on my road bike, but these pedals have a much bigger platform, which is nice because I like to wear my hiking sneakers on tours and they’re a little chunkier than my normal sneakers:

I forgot to take pictures BEFORE the tour, in case you couldn’t tell…

And conveniently, Joe at 718 Cyclery, was offering his first “Trail Mix (AKA, what to do when sh&t happens out on the trail" class on August 19th, just a couple of days before I left for my trip. It was a nice little refresher on some basic repairs on a beautiful summer night in Prospect Park.