Update for Sal
Thanks to a reader request, we have an update.
Dave, my art director partner who was battling a 10.5 week cold that he had three times and shared with me twice, now has a brand new bike. He treated himself to a Specialized Allez, which is a lot of bike for the money. A former sub 3:00:00 marathoner and a 4:30 miler, Dave will probably enjoy turning the pedals over. Perhaps someday, if we haven’t seen enough of each other during the week, we will go for a weekend ride together.
We have had two back-to-back maximum efforts at work lately, so I had an executive meeting with myself and decided to have a one-man off-site meeting on Wednesday. I posted a sign on my door saying as much, and then slept in until the unfamiliar hour of 7:00 am.
The weather was grim and the forecast was for snow, but I suited up in the appropriate gear and out the door I went. As has been said by better riders than I, you can always take a jacket off. You can’t put one on if you don’t have it with you. I wore two jackets, and actually took one off at about the one-hour mark. That didn’t last long, as it started to snow, so I put the jacket back on and kept pedaling.
As a person who wears prescriptive glasses, I am jealous of all of you who don’t. It’s hard to look around the snow flakes on the lenses, so I took the glasses off and put them in my back pocket.
Read a story that said the weather is more psychological than real, so I tried to keep that in mind. That was true, until the two-hour mark, then my hands and feet started to get cold. That’s when I got lost.
Somewhere in the backwoods of Norwell, I took a wrong turn. An Irish fella hauling the cans out to the curb set me straight, and I found my way home again, finishing out the ride at 2:48, a touch shy of three hours.
You don’t want to hang around in wet, cold, clammy clothes, so I changed up as quickly as possible, enjoyed a hot bowl of soup, and then treated myself to an oil change for the ninety-something Ford Explorer.
Since it was the last day of the Super Sale at Belmont Wheelworks, the best bicycle shop in Massachusetts, I made the long trip out to Belmont to buy some things. There are a few things that are near and dear to a cyclist. One is your ass. I’m not yet ready to write about my ass, so I will limit the discussion to my feet.
Last summer, during Trek’s YELLOW TAG SAVINGS! Sale I was invited by Bob Roll to buy a pair of shoes JUST LIKE LANCE’S. I did and they hurt like you wouldn’t believe. They’re fine for the first 50 miles, even the first 80, but from 80 up, they hurt plenty. I’d be sitting on a sidewalk in some far-from-home town rubbing my feet. Not fun. Might be because they’re a bit narrow. Could be because they’re as stiff as a crutch. But they hurt, lots. I changed the insoles, and they are not as insufferable as they once were.
A nice guy at Wheelworks named Michael agreed to help me and I tried on every pair of shoes in the store. Found a pair I like. Now, I have three pairs for the Tour. The Nikes, if I’m feeling super strong. The new shoes, which fit. And the old shoes, which are totally beat, but I’m willing to cut holes in them if necessary.
Also saw the bike we’re going to get for the Tour, a Scott CR-1 Team. Whoa, is it sweet. Light. Nice looking fork. Great profile. Makes the old bike look, well, old. When the Tour is over, if I’m not flat out broke, I may buy it from the company. After the 2,100 mile test ride, I should know if I like it or not.
To continue the celebration of myself, I got up early today, knocked out my intervals on the trainer, dried my person with a towel, changed into fresh clothes, then commuted to work, to bring today’s effort in at 2:51. The new chain and cassette I got at Wheelworks feel good.
If you ride a lot, you wear out your chain and cassette every three months. The new chain always feels good. Ah, the simple things in life.
Dave, my art director partner who was battling a 10.5 week cold that he had three times and shared with me twice, now has a brand new bike. He treated himself to a Specialized Allez, which is a lot of bike for the money. A former sub 3:00:00 marathoner and a 4:30 miler, Dave will probably enjoy turning the pedals over. Perhaps someday, if we haven’t seen enough of each other during the week, we will go for a weekend ride together.
We have had two back-to-back maximum efforts at work lately, so I had an executive meeting with myself and decided to have a one-man off-site meeting on Wednesday. I posted a sign on my door saying as much, and then slept in until the unfamiliar hour of 7:00 am.
The weather was grim and the forecast was for snow, but I suited up in the appropriate gear and out the door I went. As has been said by better riders than I, you can always take a jacket off. You can’t put one on if you don’t have it with you. I wore two jackets, and actually took one off at about the one-hour mark. That didn’t last long, as it started to snow, so I put the jacket back on and kept pedaling.
As a person who wears prescriptive glasses, I am jealous of all of you who don’t. It’s hard to look around the snow flakes on the lenses, so I took the glasses off and put them in my back pocket.
Read a story that said the weather is more psychological than real, so I tried to keep that in mind. That was true, until the two-hour mark, then my hands and feet started to get cold. That’s when I got lost.
Somewhere in the backwoods of Norwell, I took a wrong turn. An Irish fella hauling the cans out to the curb set me straight, and I found my way home again, finishing out the ride at 2:48, a touch shy of three hours.
You don’t want to hang around in wet, cold, clammy clothes, so I changed up as quickly as possible, enjoyed a hot bowl of soup, and then treated myself to an oil change for the ninety-something Ford Explorer.
Since it was the last day of the Super Sale at Belmont Wheelworks, the best bicycle shop in Massachusetts, I made the long trip out to Belmont to buy some things. There are a few things that are near and dear to a cyclist. One is your ass. I’m not yet ready to write about my ass, so I will limit the discussion to my feet.
Last summer, during Trek’s YELLOW TAG SAVINGS! Sale I was invited by Bob Roll to buy a pair of shoes JUST LIKE LANCE’S. I did and they hurt like you wouldn’t believe. They’re fine for the first 50 miles, even the first 80, but from 80 up, they hurt plenty. I’d be sitting on a sidewalk in some far-from-home town rubbing my feet. Not fun. Might be because they’re a bit narrow. Could be because they’re as stiff as a crutch. But they hurt, lots. I changed the insoles, and they are not as insufferable as they once were.
A nice guy at Wheelworks named Michael agreed to help me and I tried on every pair of shoes in the store. Found a pair I like. Now, I have three pairs for the Tour. The Nikes, if I’m feeling super strong. The new shoes, which fit. And the old shoes, which are totally beat, but I’m willing to cut holes in them if necessary.
Also saw the bike we’re going to get for the Tour, a Scott CR-1 Team. Whoa, is it sweet. Light. Nice looking fork. Great profile. Makes the old bike look, well, old. When the Tour is over, if I’m not flat out broke, I may buy it from the company. After the 2,100 mile test ride, I should know if I like it or not.
To continue the celebration of myself, I got up early today, knocked out my intervals on the trainer, dried my person with a towel, changed into fresh clothes, then commuted to work, to bring today’s effort in at 2:51. The new chain and cassette I got at Wheelworks feel good.
If you ride a lot, you wear out your chain and cassette every three months. The new chain always feels good. Ah, the simple things in life.
posted by joe berkeley at 8:40 AM
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