Thursday, April 16, 2009

Yeah, it's a racing bike

I'm not a racer though, and my bike is probably embarrassed right now. I went out for an "easy" 20 miler last night, just trying to get a feel for the new bike. I'm impressed with how comfortable some parts of the bike were, such as hand positioning and comfort on the drops. However, my butt hasn't been on a bike saddle much the past few years, and despite aluminum tubing and a carbon fiber fork, the bike is stiff. Today, I can definitely feel that bike seat.

Overall, I was very impressed with the lightness and the handling of the bike, and it's going to be a fun toy for cross-training. But, it's going to take a while to get used to that seat and the stiffness of the bike.

I rode an out and back route, going slightly uphill (along a river) and into the wind on the way out. It took me 45 minutes in the little chainring to go 10 miles. On the way back, I got to use the big chainring the whole way and it only took 35 minutes. Twenty miles at an average of 15 mph. Yeah, it's been a long time, but that's pathetically slow. Oh well.

Tonight, I have a meeting at a local college to talk about establishing a new, local USATF club. There are a number of us working to find a way to get a track built in our little town, and we're hoping we can find some grant money and work with the local college to make it happen. The first step in that process is to create a formal organization that can apply for grants, so we are going to form a USATF club. The meeting is about 5 miles from my house, so I'm planning to run there and then run home after the meeting.

I'll do some easy cross-training tomorrow, a short run on Saturday, and then Sunday I'll run the Trail Animals Don't Run Boston 50K. Hopefully, I'll be a little faster than last year, but it will be close.

No comments: