Nice pictures, NWG. As someone who's about to put a heavy leather saddle on a carbon road bike, I support your choice of bike for road riding. Sometimes the typical set up is just not the best for our individual purposes.

This reminds me -- last weekend I rode with someone who is an old-school steel bike rider through and through. The guy who shows up to a big club road road in khaki cargo shorts and a wool jersey. He was riding an Austro-Daimler bike. With a leather saddle of course. It's always fun to see bikes like that in the wild. And he's a very nice man and enjoyable ride companion, too.

As for the heat, I would have ridden outside last night if I wasn't dealing with this saddle pain which takes a week to subside. Riding on very hots days is manageable in the evenings, especially once I get away from the highway and closer to the tree-lined neighorhoods near the river. But, that's not an option this week. I got to the gym late (as usual) but managed to get in a good 30-minute interval workout. Afterwards I sat outside for a while in an attempt to get some acclimation to the hot weather.