R&D day

Took the same loop as yesterday but the pace was slower. I was definitely running at a pretty good pace in some places, but I also made several stops to make adjustments to the bike, poked around in the neighborhood perfecting my street route to the bike path, and basically just enjoying the ride.

Per Paul's recommendations, I flipped the handlebar stem over giving me 10 degrees of rise rather than 10 degrees of drop. I also raised the seat just a bit more. I actually mounted my old GPS on the bars this morning in order to help with my routing and just to try it out. Kind of cool, kind of geeky. I don't plan to make a habit of this although the mount I came up with works quite well if I do say so. Maybe when I do that century ride, I'll track the whole thing.

Then again, maybe not...

The adjustments to the bike today made it feel even better. However, I noticed that I was having to push myself back on the saddle again from time to time though, so I stopped and moved the seat a little bit forward and tilted the front of the seat up just a little bit more. I was just going to do a quick ride, mainly to try out the new adjustments on the bike and find a good route to the bike path. But once I found myself at the bike path I decided to go ahead and do my loop. Also per Paul's suggestion, I left the straps on the crazy shoes a bit loose, and guess what? No more foot pain! I was just strapping them down too tight! My left foot was still getting sore along the left side, but I found that if I tried to make a point of keeping my knees in toward the middle of the bike, that relieved that little nuisance as well. It gets harder to remember all these little things when I start getting tired, but it should all come easier with time. It's all just a matter of making these things a habit.

But, I think the bike is about as good as it is going to get. As I adjust the bike to take weight off my hands, it shifts to my butt, so by the time I was coming home today, I was feeling it more back there (combined with making two 20 mile rides in 2 days - that's a lot for me) so I think there is always a trade off. All in all, I can't get over how easy it is to put miles on this bike. It is just a completely enjoyable ride.

I think I'll go ahead and commit to a couple pairs of "biking shorts." I like having all the pockets in my cargo pants for the Ipod and paper towels for the inevitable runny nose, but I'll figure that out. Maybe one of those jerseys with the pockets along the back.

hmmm. I think a trip to the bike shop is in order.

Oh! I forgot to mention - I did the "clipless tumble" today. Waiting for some traffic, got too close to the curb, couldn't get clipped out quickly enough and tipped over. The good news was that I just tumbled into the grass. The bad news was that the owner of the grass had a sprinkler on at the time... :)

So - a slower day, but a lot of progress was made none-the-less. I love this bike.

8/21/08:
21.10 miles
time unknown, but long
10.7 mph avg.
23.4 mph max.