Two Wheel Blogs

I enjoyed a great ride today. The weather/wind made for a really fun time. At one point I led a short pace line over about a mile stretch where we were tempeted to pass a few cars. I was spinning a 53x11 at what felt to be a very high cadence during a nice tail wind.

One thing about today’s ride that was really neat to me was the way my bike felt. That had a lot to do with my wheels (I was using a different set than usual). More about that later.

Here it is Thursday morning, fully a week since I woke up feeling like I'd been dragged through the proverbial knot hole. I'm happy to report that I no longer feel quite that bad. I'm also sad to report that some of the symptoms linger on.

I can't bear to open up WKO+ TrainingPeaks or my workout log spreadsheet and look at what's become of my fitness. Ah, well, it's better to focus on getting better and not worry about those things until I do.

One cycling-related thing I have managed to accomplish in the past week, however, was getting my front wheel repaired. The guys at the shop were impressed at how the spoke had torn nearly completely out of the wheel and yet somehow still held strongly enough to bend a Mavic Ksyrium so far out of true.

Photo: 

Remember that one? Todd Rundgren? Good stuff. I've been thinking about that word a lot lately. I've been trying to come up with just the right word to describe the sound my rear hub made recently.

I was bombing down a short and very steep pitch, one that you can only pedal so long on because even in your top gear you spin out in about 4 seconds. As soon as I stopped pedaling I heard this awful screaming sound coming from somewhere under me. By the way the upper section of chain was hanging I knew it had to be something in the rear hub. The noise it made sent a chill right through me.

At first I was just startled. A split second later I got a flash of what might happen if the hub locked up on me at 40+mph. The chill turned to outright fright.

Recent discoveries have lead me to seek the advice of an even bigger bike geek than me.
I have been experiencing some problems lately with tires, and the cause of my problems is pretty easy to get my head around. It is a simple combination of bad luck and tires not well suited to my riding style. No sense in fighting it...I am going back to the tires that work well for me. I am not chasing the dream of faster, lighter, and less rolling resistance any more (this season at least). The DH/Freeride inspired Nevegal is almost certainly the tire that will carry me out of 2007.

So I got really lucky and was actually able to ride tonight, granted all the rain mid-mo's been getting today. I had plans on riding at Four Winds down at the lake, but unfortunatly didn't have the time, so I was "forced" to ride Binder.

Today, the opportunity arose for me to hit the trail, so I did. It was fairly uneventful...

While I rode today, I tried to take in the sites a bit more than usual. I had to remind myself a few times to slow down and enjoy the wild, and not just enjoy the "edge". See, since I got this new bike, I go out and ride hard and look for that edge of control...you know that point where the adrenaline starts to really flow as you push the limit of what you can do (be it hold a line through a curve, rip down a descent, or put it all together for a P.R. lap time).