First group ride back in Ohio, just four of us. Unsurprisingly, since I'd been riding all winter and they hadn't, it was pretty much of a cruise for me in spite of the hills.

The real test didn't come til late in the ride when we split to head home, two of us went up the big hill (3/4 mile at a 10 to 15% grade). I got to the bottom and went to shift into my puppy gear, and.... <grind, grind, grind, no shift>. Messed with the barrel adjuster on the cable - still no shift. I have never made it up this hill in anything but my lowest gear. Today, it was my 39x25 or walk. I thought about the old days when I could climb anything in my 42x21. Back then, my philosophy was that once I was in my lowest gear, there were so many pedal strokes to the top, and I may as well get 'em over with. So I stood on the pedals and I nailed that hill. 230 vertical feet of climbing on that hill alone, which is about what we'd do in our entire 37 mile loop in Florida (including 85 feet of bridges ).

w00t w00t, that was a real conquest for me! 31 miles total.