chadwest.net

I’ve had my new road bike for almost a month now and I have to say I’m rather pleased with it. Pacific Bicycle was kind enough to swap out the compact crank for a standard double at my request when I purchased it. On Tuesday’s grueling ride up Kings Mtn in Woodside I just about lost my lunch. Heilmann kept pointing out that I should have easier gearing on my bike, and maybe I should get a tripple. The whole time I was waiting for him to say, “You’re wishing you had that compact crank right about now, huh?!” Which he never did, but I don’t think I had enough spare air to tell him off! His loss.

Unfortunately, it has been raining quite a bit in the Bay Area over the past month. For some reason it always seems to be on the days I plan on getting out for a ride. By the way, this weather is very atypical, it even snowed in Tahoe yesterday. California really only has two seasons: the rainy winter, and a dry summer. This year seems to be the exception, and yes in the city the summer for the most part is cold and foggy.

Anyway, this has limited my time in the saddle. At this point I’ve only spent a total of 15:48 hours and have logged only 235.47 miles. That is about to change very soon. I’m planning on kicking my weekend rides up a bit, no more of the typical 35-40 mile loops. Next Saturday the plan is to ride the Stinson Beach loop which should be around 60 miles and I think around 2000′ of vertical. Also, I’m going to force myself to ride twice during the week, each about 25-35 miles.

The more I ride the easier it gets, so why not ride more? Let me know if you down for a long steady ride next Saturday. I’m not the best climber, but I have no problem dragging you ass behind me on the flats!