Managed to do my first ride of decent distance since 2000, going the 58 miles of the Chain Reaction Best Dam Ride in a bit under 3 and a half hours, and all without displaying an embarrasing lack of fitness! Woo! The saddle started to seem pretty small and my legs lost their power around mile 40, but still, not too bad a first effort.
I think I’ll have to look around for a century to do towards the middle or end of the summer, maybe one of the MS rides.
I’m an avid cyclist and have also been described more than once as a geek, so I was very excited when I read the table of contents for Issue 1 and saw some forgotten technology might be resurrected from old bicycles.
Imagine my disappointment when I saw it was only grooved bicycle seats with the purpose of reducing pressure on the pudendal nerve. I have been using one of those on my road bicycle for at least six years now. When I bought it, the market was full of options. Between my wife and I, we tried at least eight different models with some sort of opening or groove between the two halves of the saddle.
It was ironic how the article opened with an admonishment to do ones research in the library as well as the lab in order to avoid re-inventing the wheel. When writing an article about forgotten technology, try picking up a few catalogs in the technology area, or at least try a Google search, to make sure it really IS forgotten, and not available at any good local or internet bicycle shop.
According to Cyclingnews, George Hincapie will be racing Amstel Gold next Sunday, and will thus miss the Tour de Georgia.
The day was by no means calm when I started at 1000 this morning, and the wind picked up slowly from there. It wasn’t anything like the 60 MPH gusts we had yesterday, but the unsheltered sections where I was riding in to the wind were still pretty tough. My 28.4 mile loop took me out past the county landfill and back, mostly on lightly-travelled rural roads, and took an hour and 54 minutes.
I was pretty well spent by the time I got to the home stretch on Hardy McManus, but it was still a good ride, and my legs felt strong for most of it. As long as I can recover well from this effort and get back on the road and the trainer early this week, say Tuesday at the latest, I should be able to manage the 58-mile Best Dam Ride in two weeks.
Today, after two false starts when I went back home for more layers to keep the wind out, I went on a ride, but only managed nine miles. I think I should get bonus miles for the wind; wunderground claims the wind was 15-30 miles per hour, with gusts up to 40. No wonder I could only manage 23 MPH down a hill that’s normally good for 30+!
