Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Trail Note: Cycle style

Sunday was the first ride on my road bike with the new triple chain ring in place. Jeff replaced my original front gear (2 rings) with one that had a third, smaller gear in place. This was to make my bike easier for riding hills. I have been riding my mountain bike all spring, which is great for off-road riding and has low gears which are good for getting up steep hills, but is heavy and slow. I really want to ride the road bike for the Classic.

The replacement wasn't quite as simple as I had expected, as it was also necessary to buy new derailers for the new gear configuration. We (okay, Jeff) finally finished up the project Sunday morning, so we went for a ride that afternoon.

We rode northeast through the University on the Burke Gilman trail over to the Lake Washington loop to Seward Park. We then headed west and north up to Capital Hill (where I had softball practice). It was a great ride to enjoy the speed of the road bike on some flat streches along the lake (we got into a 20 mph groove for a little while) and test the new gearing on some challenging hills as we approached Cap Hill from the east. While the hills were tough, the bike was great!

Now I'm ready to start adding some milage. The longest ride I've done this year has been in the mid-30 mile range. I'll need to feel comfortable doing at least 60 hilly miles before August, and would like to get up to a century ride (100 miles) before the summer is done. This weekend: the Rhody Ride.

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