Catching up... I rode outside last Saturday. It was a club ride with 8 people. Temps were in the low 60s and it was cloudy, with a chilly breeze at the deli near the Chesapeake Bay where we had our rest stop. The original forecast called for sunshine all day so I had hoped for a nice lunch at an outdoor table at that deli. However on Friday afternoon one local meteorologist said he had a feeling that clouds would linger through the morning and early afternoon, and he has a good track record so I suspected he would be right, and it turned out that he was. Oh well, the clouds were not too gray or thick and we could at least see a vague outline of the sun through them. More importantly, even with the chilly breeze it was not really cold, and there was no sign of the snow and ice from a few days earlier. We rode 35 miles. Since I haven't been riding lately my goal was to keep my average speed above 12 mph, but as it turned out I was able to keep it above 13 without feeling too tired. I did slow down a bit in the second half to stay with someone who had trouble with a particularly steep hill. At the end I felt hopeful. We may still get hit with more snow, but I can see the light of spring at the end of the tunnel.
Last night I rode for 50 minutes on the indoor trainer while watching behind-the-scenes footage of the Foo Fighters recording songs on the Sonic Highways dvd. It was really interesting hearing them work on different tracks without hearing the vocals or drums along with it.
We should have another warm day on Sunday, so I'm tentatively planning to ride then, and then will take my bike to the shop for its annual clean-and-tune service. The LBS is offering a discount on their routine service packages through the end of the month, so this is a good time to get it done.
- Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
- Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
- Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle
Gone but not forgotten:
- Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
- Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles