Transition: passage from one state, place, stage or subject to another : change. (Merriam-Webster dictionary). It is that time once again, sort of! There are those who would say there wasn’t anything to transition from since winter never got real. Oh yes there was a whole lot more whining going on this winter than normal but there were a whole lot of folks out enjoying it for everything that could be squeezed out of the meager snowpack too, yeah, it was still full of good fun days on the snow.
But yes, it is that time when we transition everything from our car tires to our clothing, our clocks change, the critters in our yards change, but most importantly… our toys change! It’s exciting, fun and sad all at the same time, more than that it is also really hard on our toys.
I say this because so often it works like this. It is the last couple of days in March. We head out to Carson Pass for some Backcountry skiing. Getting started we walk on a bit of dirt, snow, mud, put the skis on and ski the rest of the day. Really good corn snow, exciting steep lines, we hit a few rocks here and there, slide over some dirty snow once or twice, slog back to the parking lot, big smiles and happy dogs. The gear has basically been abused so we could be amused and then leaned against the wall dirty and left without giving any attention at all, not even a thanks for making the day so wonderful!
The very next day after work I pull my mountain bike out and take the dog out for a couple of hours. Guess what, mud, snow, sand, fun. Put it away wet and dirty because it’s late and I’m ready for a beer. It is what we do, right? Abuse our toys and keep right on going, then a week later we are baffled by that obnoxious noise the bike keeps making, just before it breaks!
It’s bad enough in the middle of the season, whichever one it is, when we run ‘em hard and barely manage to take care of that one toy well enough. Now it is transition season and we may be running several seasons’ toys all at once and really not taking care of any of them at all. This is when it gets tough on our toys. The problem is that you are sitting there on the couch gloating, feeling all sad that that season is over and the new one hasn’t started yet, feeling all sorry for yourself ‘cause you never got that epic pow day, well get over yourself spunky! Didn’t mom always say, “Go put your toys away.”
What she really meant was take a damp rag and wipe all that late season grit off of your skis and out of the bindings. That stuff is really hard on bases and just like any other mechanical thing, that grit gets into the bindings and will begin to grind the moving parts to death. The same goes for the boots. Get the buckles, the cuff and the soles clean. Of course, some ptex work, a little file work on the edges and some fresh wax would be awesome too.
The bike is waiting too, all gritty and dry, yuk! I know it is tempting and so easy to just hose it off, it just isn’t good for the bike. That hose forces to much water into the cables, the small drivetrain parts and even though they are sealed, the bearings will take some water in too. It’s the same story, a rag and an old toothbrush is very helpful. Clean all of the drivetrain, gears, chain, derailleurs. Clean around the seals of both front and rear shocks, and if it is full suspension the pivot points on the rear swing arm need a little love too. A bit more time consuming but it really goes a long way to making your bike happy. Then don’t forget to put a good quality lube on the chain and shazaam, happy bike!
Soon enough we will be out of the transition, and the sticky yuck factor will be gone. We won’t be having FOMO (fear of missing out) because we won’t be wondering if we should have gone for that one more corn run, how boring.
Let’s play