Mostly recaps of two wheeled rambles through the countryside, but sometimes thoughts on other things.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Weather Rewind

After an unrelenting hot couple of weeks, with temps dancing close to the 100F mark, today featured ride time in the 70s and 80s, with low humidity. What a great day to ride. Understandably, there was a high turnout at Pintlala Baptist and the crowd separated out into groups based on speed and distance. The 2 Johns, Jim and I ended up with a hair under 40 miles, doing one of the variants of the loop down to Ramer and back. The scenery has been pictured before, as have my riding buddies, so I didn't shoot any new pics.

I rode Louise, on freshly pumped up tires and she still fits like a glove. I am thinking that I need a smaller cog on that freewheel. If nothing suits in my inventory, I'll have to order something. Gee, what torture to have to order bike stuff! :) There are a few other neat little gadgets I want, so maybe I'll qualify for free shipping somewhere. We'll see.

It was a relief to find that I had legs today. The last couple of rides have been iffy, energy wise, due to my low carb diet. Today was just a regular ride, and I am very appreciative of that. I had a Banana en route, and mixed some Powerade 50/50 with water down at the Ramer store, but those carbs were burned off long before I made it back to the parking lot. I ended up with 14.54 avg speed, which is close to the top end of my 13 - 15 often advertised pace.

Bob, who was with us at the beginning of the ride has a good report for the recent Selle AnAtomica saddle he bought following my suggestion. There are places it pays to save weight, if you want to be quicker, but your saddle isn't one of them. A comfortable saddle allows to to pedal with power more efficiently and keeps you from using your arms and shoulders (wasting energy too) to unload some pressure.

There was only limited animal interest on the ride today. Some friendly puppies greeted us at a pause under a shady tree, but when one jumped up to lavish affection on Jim, his claws cut Jim's arm, which bled quite a bit for a while. yes, Jim IS a red blooded American. we have proof now.
Later, a donkey we passed brayed louder than I'd ever heard before. We don't know what he was saying, but he meant it.

Tomorrow will be another beginner/lite ride. With the nice weather, we may have a decent showing.

Be careful out there on the roads people.

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