Dialed-in

I know it’s going to upset at least one of my readers who was rooting for my back wheel to fall off (just in the name of good blog content), but my ride on Saturday actually went well. I decided to use my backup wheel to remove one controllable variable. The other variables (my riding shape and the bicycle fit) also held up surprisingly well. I was shocked at how well my conditioning held up. I have to give some credit to the better fit, which is giving me more power and ultimately stamina because of better comfort. I really dialed-in the fit at the halfway point when we broke for lunch – I moved the saddle up a bit and tilted the nose. Final stats for the ride were 85 miles and 4,500 vertical feet of climbing.

On Sunday, I rode my bike to my brother’s house in CT for Mother’s day. I was originally intending to ride my touring bike so I could pack some clothes, etc... in the panniers but I ended up using my road bike with a backpack because I was so pumped about the fit/feel of the bike. I took the 6 train to Pelham Bay Park, the last stop, in order to cut down on the overall mileage since this was going to be a recovery ride. This is the first time I’ve done this route and I definitely underestimated the hilliness. I’m not sure there were any flat sections – I was either going up or down. I ended up logging 40 miles, which was the perfect distance but there was too much climbing and I also underestimated the extra work associated with 10-15 lbs on your back. As far as the route quality, about 50% of very scenic – the other 50% was the exact opposite and in fact, some of the route was through ghetto areas. It’s amazing how quickly the terrain changes from beautiful Greenwich to crack houses.

Just got my new Brooks racing saddle in the mail. I was cautious about putting it on my bike since I had everything so perfect but I think this will be the cherry on top. We have our training graduation ride this weekend. It’s a 100 mile ride culminating with a climb to the top of Bear Mountain (not for the faint of heart). I’m going to ride the Brooks saddle this week and see how it goes – typically there’s a 500 mile break-in period for a Brooks but out of the box it doesn’t feel any less comfortable than my current saddle. First impressions are good – I got the titanium rails which cut down on the weight – I was surprised by how light it felt – it’s only 100 grams heavier than my current saddle. That’s a lot for a weight weenie but only ¼ lb in the real world. I’ll just skip a few potato chips today at lunch to make up for it.