Got some new bling for the bike!!!!!!!!!!!

This past weekend I was able to get a deal on some new components for the bike. I had Charles at The Bike Store to thank for that. He put new SRAM Force group on his cross bike & sold me his Ultegra components. Today was the first time I had a chance to ride with the new parts. I hadn't been able to ride much since a week ago Saturday, but that's ok. I'm still a bit sore from the crash, but it's slowly getting better. Today I headed out & the legs felt pretty good. I did a route that I usually do. It's only a bit over 30 miles, but there are rolling hills on the route. I was surprised how good my legs felt after warming up. I kept it in the small ring during the early part of the ride just to be sure my legs were doing ok & it wouldn't hurt. The new parts worked fantastic. It shifts much better now than with the other components. I'm looking at getting the Orbea fixed. I found out that it might cost as little as $45 to get the cable guide replaced. I have the old 9 speed parts to put on it, so I'll have a spare bike in case something happens to the Trek. I just want to give Charles & Ethan @ The Bike Store thanks for doing all they have done to help me out. Stay tuned for more adventures.....

Wednesday Rides & a Crash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went for a ride early Wednesday afternoon seeing as I had the day off. I hadn't been on the bike for a week. I decided to just take it easy to see how the legs were feeling. I was surprised at how good they felt with being off for a week. I kept it in the small ring, but did push the cadence up a few times. I just took an easy route with just a few climbs, nothing big, just so I woudln't kill my legs. I ended up doing about 23 miles with an average speed of over 19 mph. I guess my legs felt better than I had thought during the ride. On Wednesday night, Charles from The Bike Store, was putting on crit practice at Perry Primary School. I decided to give it a shot, I need all the practice I can get when it comes to crits anyway. There were about 5 of us at the start and I wanted to see how good my legs felt. After warming up a few laps, I thought it was about time to see about putting the hammer down. I picked up the pace and was keeping a steady 21-23 mph just slowing for the corners. I was doing that for the better part of an hour. I then decided to do a few slow laps to recover for a bit. My legs were starting to get a bit tired. After a few cool down laps Charles was feeling a bit on the froggy side. I was trying to chase him down when I was turning a corner, one minute I'm upright on the bike, the next, I'm down on the pavement wondering what happened. I layed there to make sure I wasn't seriously hurt. Thankfully I wasn't hurt, my helmet took the brunt of it. Thanks to the helmet manufactureres for making a great product. I found out that my rear tire blew out & I think that's what caused me to go down. The bike is fine & I'm just a bit sore. I went for a recovery ride today, my legs felt good. I took it easy for most of the ride, but I had to put in one hard effort to see how my legs would feel. The legs felt pretty good doing a hard effort on the big ring. It hurts more to walk than it does to ride. I've got a bit of a limp, but I'm sure that will go away when the soreness is gone. I'm just going to have to be a bit more careful when taking corners. Thanks for reading & stay tuned for more adventures......

Peach Peloton Ride Recap

Yesterday was the next in the Peach Peloton Ride series. I was a bit hesitant about this one seeing as I had missed the past couple weeks due to other obligations. We started out near Julitte and it was certainly one cold morning. I had on a wicking t-shirt, my jersey, and then a thermal jacket. My legs had my shorts and I put tights on. My feet were trying out some Oslo extreme weather socks from Trek. I put my booties on due to the cold weather. We headed out and the first 10 miles were pretty good rolling hills. We ran into a couple of large dogs early in the ride & we were worried that they would be a problem on the way back. I decided to ride smart this time. I wasn't going to be up front very much, just wanted to survive this ride. The pace on the way out was pretty good, my legs were feeling good and when they started rotating, I just stayed out of the way and let them do it. I stayed close enough with the group to not get dropped but didn't want to wear myself out doing the rotations. We hit the store stop just after 2 hours and I was feeling suprisingly good. After the store stop we got back on the road and once again started rotating. The road after the store stop was constant rollers, some bigger than others, but I need the hill practice. We just continued rolling on the road and I was able to stay with everyone, once in a while we would come across a county line sign and some of the group decided to sprint for the signs. I just watched them, not wanting to contest any of them. We started back down the road we headed out on for the first part of the ride, this was the attack zone. We were all together for about the first couple of miles, then Chad decided it was time to break things up. I did my best to stay with them, but when you're riding with guys who are Cat 3 or higher, it's kind of hard to stay with them. I gave it my best, but had to let them go in order to finish. The return trip down this road seemed a lot harder than on the way out, but at least I didn't have to deal with the dogs like I was worried about. All in all it was a good ride, did 82.54 miles at an average speed of 19.46 mph. I was happy to survive the ride & look foward to next week.

Weekend was a wash for riding

Woke up on Saturday morning to rain. I headed to the meeting place for the Peach Peloton ride, hoping the rain had stopped in north Macon, but it actually was raining harder there then when I left my house. I thought I would head up to see if they were doing the Southside Fondo ride in Fayetteville, but it was the same story, rain. So, seeing as I was already up that way I stopped in to Epic Bikes to give the Power Tap Time Trial Series a go. I warmed up on the trainer for 20 minutes, then it was time to hammer. I increased the cadence & pushed it hard for the next 10 minutes. I started to feel it about minute 7, but I just gritted my teeth and pushed through it. I averaged 274 watts for the 10 mintues. I'm hoping to do it here again in the next few weeks to see if my numbers will improve. On Sunday it was pretty much the same story, it rained the entire day, so riding outdoors was a total wash. I'm hoping to be able to ride more this week and looking foward to the Peach Peloton ride this weekend. Stay tuned for more adventures......