warm weekend

Got out both days with groups of 6-8 on the now almost completely dry, but very sandy roads.

Saturday was a 30 minute "warmup" followed by about a 2 hr ride with the group at 17.5 or so with pretty high winds on the outward leg. I rode the Mamasita with the 34mm Pirhanas on the new Stan's wheelset. The 28/38 front double means that I get spun out at times on downhills, but otherwise the bike works surprisingly well. It was nice to see a group out so early in the year and also fun to "check up" a bit with the improvements I've made since last year (when I was almost dropped on a similar ride). After the ride I decided I would go grab some lunch and continue riding- sadly Chipotle was too busy to even think about waiting at... I wound up going to Panera where there were no extra tables either. I ended up having to ask a couple of college girls if I could join them at their table. Made me think about how old I'm getting, but at least they didn't say no right? They were sort of confused about why I had a bike helmet and pockets full of slimfasts, but otherwise nice enough. After lunch I rode another 90 minutes or so to bring the total to just over 60 miles.

Today was more of the same with the group ride, but the pace was a bit hotter and the group was more varied. By the end the group got whittled down pretty small. I rode the Mamasita again, but this time with the Tubular wheelset. I was feeling a bit crappy this AM and at the beginning of the ride as we celebrated Eric's birthday last night, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to give these a good test yet today. However, they were just FAST virtually every second of the ride. I felt like I could fly anytime I wanted to. Thanks Steve for talking me into 'em. Today wound up at 47 miles in 2.:45 or so including warmup/cooldowns. I think we averaged over 18 for the 2 hrs of group riding.

Other news is that I added some really dorky looking reflective tape all over the Redline. Not sure anything can make it look more utilitarian anyways, but it sure looks something now.

I guess I'm bringing the Redline to STD with the Pirhanas on it and the fixed/free setup and the mamasita with the tubular wheelset on it. I will also bring almost all of my other cycling possessions including the stan's wheelset and all my spare parts/tools. It sounds like it might get ugly weather wise- if it's anything less than dry I'll be trying to ride the Redline for the entire weekend so as to avoid undue wear on the Salsa. I will likely stretch my commute out a little bit tomorrow (2 hrs?) and then just do the strict commute Tuesday and Wednesday as I rest up for STD.

A few parts should be here Wednesday for the MCS- hoping to install early next week. I'm anticipating 205-210 crank hp after these changes.

Hope you got out and rode this weekend, it probably won't be this nice all the time here yet for another 5 or 6 weeks.