No More Hair Piece

I did go for a ride yesterday and it was a sad sight. I was struggling to keep an 18mph pace and I started off way too quickly and caused my knee to act up. Again. I rode up to the Pawlings lot and back, which is about 15miles at best. It was ugly, but necessary.

When I got back I decided to take my bike into the shop to have one of the mechanics look it over. I do that once a year just to make sure I haven't fucked my bike up too much. I had a loose rear hub. I hadn't even noticed, but there was a little bit of play, so we tightened it up.

I also decided on my ride that my saddle (Toupé) can go fuck itself. I've been trying for three years to like it, and I can't do it any more. I've tried everything I can think of to make it work and I'm done with the numbness. I bought another Romin.

My tires were shot and I knew that going in. I had blue Vredestein Tri Comps, 700x23. My original Specialized Mondos, or whatever they're called, gave up way to early. I replaced them with some Vittoria something with a 300TPI count. Great tire that didn't even last as long as the Mondos. I figured I give the Tri Comps a shot because they seemed like a durable race tire. They are. I don't know the exact number of miles I got out of them, but they had consistent grip for their entire life, survived two glass punctures with no ill effects and handled my want-to-be cyclocross fix before I bought my cross bike. I happily replaced them with an all black pair. The first set I had went on perfectly. A little snug, but nothing ridiculous. The new set... not so much. I have me a nice blister on my thumb from trying to get them on by hand before giving up and using a tire lever.

It's raining something fierce right now, and there's more forecast for tomorrow, but I'm hoping for some dryness from 6-8pm tomorrow. I've decided that to make sure I ride more, I would commit to doing two rides a week. I'm going to do the shop ride on Tuesday nights, and the Bam-B ride on Sunday mornings. The shop ride is a 30mile ride on mostly quiet roads with rolling hills. The Bam-B ride is from Betzwood to the Art Museum and Back. It's a pretty horrible name and from now on I'm just going to call it the Tania ride because It's hosted by Team Tania, which is the team I did the MS ride with a few years ago. All I know is that I need to ride more. With more riding will come more writing, so it's a win for you guys as well.