2025 Glacial Lakes MC Grand Tour

Winter Maintenance July is the middle of our Winter, and just 3 words sum up the current situation perfectly. Cold, Wet or Windy or a combination of one or more of those factors.   Cold as in 0*C ~ 15*C, Wet as in 20 days of rain per month or more, and Windy as wind gusts exceeding 100 kph.  Not the best riding weather by any stretch of the imagination. Lately, it's been cold & wet & windy, so it is the perfect time to perform that much-needed routine maintenance.  Now, it is fair to say that there are 2 schools of thought regarding routine maintenance. The first is " if it ain't broke, don't fix it ", while the second is " a stitch in time save nine ". Apparently, that saying has a maritime origin from the 1730s and relates to the idea that it is better to repair a small tear in a sail than wait until it is a large tear, particularly when you are in uncharted oceans. So with that in mind, I pulled out the Service Manual ( as in RTFM ) and pull...

North Coast Loop click on image to enlarge   It would seem that the Rain Gods had taken pity on your humble servant and had granted me 3 mid-week days of sunshine, with no rain forecast.   So without further ado, I pulled out my remaining Grand Tour riding plans, and over a glass of a fine Shiraz, considered the "pros & cons" of each route. The South-West Loop was a no-go, for while the weather was going to be sunny, it was not going to be warm. The forecast was for overnight temperature down to minus 4*C (25*F), with daytime temps only around the 10*C (50*F) mark.   That will be a "pass" for me. The Western Loop was not much better with a temperature range forecast of 0*C ~ 12*C, so again I passed up the opportunity for hypothermia. That just left the North Coast Loop with temperature forecasts of 5*C ~ 17*C (40*F ~ 65*F), and while this is considered "cool by some and cold by many",  it would be tolerable if I "layered up". The downside was...