Storck Demo Ride & Cherokee County Road Race Report

On Tuesday of this past week, The Bike Store in Warner Robins, had a Storck bicycle demo. I saw the sign about a week before & had Charles reserve a bike for me. I rode there straight from work so I could get set up on the bike. Most everyone who was riding a demo bike was planning on doing the usual Tuesday route. I got to the store & was given an Absolutist 0.9 with SRAM Red component group. I was given a quick tutorial on how SRAM Red works & it was very easy to get used to shifting with it. Once on the road I noticed how stiff this bike is, but it was comfortable also. We hit the hills on Lakeview & that's when I noticed how light & how very stiff this bike was. I climbed up the hills it seems quicker on this bike than I do on my Orbea. Once we hit the flatter parts of the ride, this bike is very capable of taking whatever I could hammer on the pedals. I just wish I could afford one seeing as the bike I was riding would cost me about $6500. All in all it's a great bike & it was nice to ride what seems like pro level bike at least once in my life.
On Saturday I was up in Cherokee County for the Cherokee County Road Race. I was in the Cat 5 class. There were about 35 racers in our class. The course profile looked like it was going to be a bit of a hilly route & it certainly lived up to that. I was with the pack when the transmitter for my cyclocomputer became loose & dropped to the bottom of my front fork. I was just hoping that it wouldn't go into the spokes & cause a crash. We were going through this development passing a roundabout when the road went up a bit on the steep side & with some curves thrown in for those of us who are a bit on the weight challenged going up a hill. I lost the pack on that hill & did my best to catch up but no such luck. I was starting to feel my back getting sore, & I almost didn't do the second lap, but I decided that I was going to finish this race no matter what. I did feel a bit better on the second lap and ended up 27th overall. All in all I survived another race and didn't finish last. I'll have to see what other races are coming up in the next month to see if I want to do any more.

Legs coming back around

Last week was a good week of training for me. My legs are starting to come back around. Last Monday I did the route the bike club in town does for one of their group rides, only I did it backwards this time. I'll tell you it's tough doing it in reverse. My legs felt good the entire ride & the climbs that you usually would do early in the ride are a challenge after over an hour in the saddle. I did manage to average about 19.5 mph for 46 miles so I really can't complain. On Tuesday I rode the group ride. I was able to stay with the group the entire ride & even tried some attacks. We all rode hard that day even in the heat & it was a good feeling to be able to stay with the fast group. The rest of the week was pretty much just steady riding. On Saturday I did a ride with Will. It's been some time since he's been able to ride, so we just kept a steady pace for most of the ride. On one part of the ride I decided to put the hammer down to see what would happen. I was able to keep a steady pace of over 27 mph for a good distance. Will was doing all he could just to stay on my wheel. I decided to slow things down for the rest of the ride. Going down Bear Branch Rd, it seems that Will's shifter broke. His bike was stuck on the 12 cog in the rear. The only way he could change gears was to pull on the cable & hold it there, not the most effective way to ride. I rode back to his house with him to make sure nothing else happened. All in all it was a good ride and a great time to spend with a friend. I did an early recovery ride on Sunday morning before church. My legs felt quite good. I was surprised at how they felt. I'm planning on doing a race near Canton, Ga. this weekned. I'll post a race report if I get to race.