Success!! Day 20
Weather: 73 deg F. warm, muggy, a lot of headwind
Time I left my house: 8:03 am (that's right... on time!!)
Time I arrived at work: 8:40 am
Distance: 8.24 miles
Avg. Speed: 13.7
Max Speed: 21.8
Time: 36.11 min.
Pre-game: What better motivator to get out of the house early than a boss who tells the staff to be at their desks ready to work at 9am. Sooo, I got proper time to get ready. The forecasts called for stray thunderstorms in the afternoon so it called for the Schwinn!
Ride was really nice. The chromoly steel, although obviously heavier than my Sequoia, dampened every bump, pothole and rough terrain. That coupled with the Conti-wheels, it made for a very comfy ride. I had no worries carrying all my gear and I’m sure it could haul a lot more stuff. The longer chainstay meant no heel strike which was a nice change. And I was loving the Tiagra shifters- man were they cool… had my hands in the drops and didn’t need to leave it to shift anywhere. The mountain bike gearing (Deore) worked excellent and smooth. My only quirk were the pedals- which I might switch out, although seem perfect if I was going for a long tour and the spd cleats broke/or if I wanted to ride with regular shoes. But I found myself trying to clip in- and possibly cost me some time. I see my avg. and trip time fell, and I wonder if it was any change from the San Jose (?) or me just enjoying an easy ride the day after working out (I was kinda tired, whine… whine… whine).
Yet another racer cyclist blew me away after RTE 107… he was drafting a garbage truck, but was booking (reminded me of that outlandish scene in Breaking Away when he was training on the interstate).
UPDATE: The ride home.
Weather: 89 deg.F hot, humid
Distance: 8.48 miles
Avg. Speed: 15.6
Max Speed: 26.1
Time: 32.43
It was a fast ride home, considering my bike. It certainly beat my best time with St. Joe, which is why I got this bike, and I loaded a book I bought from Borders in my pannier. I have to see if I could upgrade my Sequoia to Tiagra shifters, it really is so natural to shift from the drop position. I could see myself missing it. Anyway, pretty good times overall and I learned to use the granny gears on the way up back home, to keep cadence and maybe keep my avg. speed up. It showered a little bit, but once that ended, I was praying for more since it was like 90 degrees. This heat wave has got to stop.
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