Oh, thanks. (in a good way!)
I visited my boyfriend and his family in Arizona this week (I got back to Cleveland yesterday). He surprised me by borrowing a bike for me. Okay, he didn't surprise me. He just called me two days before I left telling me that he had an OCR3 for me and to pack a couple jerseys, shorts, gloves and a helmet. Thanks, dear! (Getting the helmet into the suitcase was fun and made the TSA hate me.)
My visit contained one day of running around between bike shops (BF got money earmarked for new bibs for his birthday/Christmas), so we got him bibs and I bought myself a Camelback (my new favorite toy! Begone, post-ride headaches!). We did an 11 mile ride with his whole family (both his parents ride too) on Tuesday, and then BF, his dad and I did ~13 miles on Thursday. I'd have done more but I was running out of water and haven't yet mastered grabbing a water bottle while riding. I learned a couple things, and got some really good encouragement from BF and family (who have sort of adopted me.):
I quite liked my borrowed steed. It wasn't set up for me, but it was 105-equipped. I think I fell in love with the 9-speed cassette and the much nicer shifting. I don't like the shifting on my bike (Sora), and the gearing I'd like doesn't seem to exist on my 8-speed. Great. Now I have to save up some money so I can replace at least three parts!
I also discovered that my bike doesn't fit me quite right. I was a bit stretched out on the borrowed bike and hurt in different places. I think (and BF's dad does too) that I'm a bit scrunched up on my current bike. It may have fit when I first bought it, but my riding style has changed (who knew?) and it needs to be tweaked. I also found myself being extremely grateful for the short-reach shifters on my bike. (And let's not talk about the saddle! Ouch!)
On the upside, I hit 22mph for the first time (on flat road)! I'm also slowly conquering my fear of descents (finding a couple with no stop sign or sharp turns at the bottom helps a lot). They also said that I had very good bike control, considering it wasn't a familiar bike and my relative noobitude (I have 85 total miles on my bike), and that BF had better watch out--his dad said something along the lines of "You'd better watch out, Chris. I think she'll kick your a** when she gets a bit stronger!" I love his family. :D
And I have some cute pictures, but those will have to wait until BF sends them to me.
