I rode my new bike 43 miles on a new route yesterday. We started in Groton, MA and rode up through Hollis, Brookline, and Mason, NH. It was a gorgeous day, a bit windy, left over from Hanna at first. There were hardly any cars on this route and mostly rural roads, with rushing water along the roads. We stopped at a maple sugar shack for lunch (which we brought). They were having a Native American pow wow, so it was noisy, but we ate on the grass and relaxed. The lunch stop was in the middle of a very steep climb; it flattened out at the stop, but it was hard to get going after sitting. Of course, we didn't know the climb continued. We started a a long downhill after climbing for like 8 miles, back into Massachusetts. There was one more 2-3 mile climb nearer to the end.
Verdict on the bike: It fits! The new bars do feel a little "twitchy," but they ARE the right size. I don't feel scrunched and for the first time ever, I don't feel stretched out trying to get in the drops. I can easily grasp the brakes. Now I just have to get over my wimpiness over descending. I can stand over the bike and i feel "one" with it while riding. By the end of the ride, I was more used to the feel of everything.
43 miles, 4,000 feet of climbing