Thursday and Saturday

Thursday was a nice ride in small gears, that's about that.
Now Saturday was a ride to write about. Perfect weather. Warmest day of the year so far. It got into the 60s, mid 60s! It started out at about 55 degrees. Still warmer than anything I have ridden in in 7 months. I was going to ride the #1 bike for the first time in forever. I had to re-build the #1 bike from ground up first. New campy brakes, strip and clean everything. It was not that bad and well lubed up. Just had to do the right thing to my favorite frame. Get everything first class for this magnificent weather. Re-do a few settings for my new form. Set the bars a little lower, the saddle a little higher and more forward. It's the little things that make all the difference for comfort and speed. Also a new front tire. The last one had a huge slash in it from a winter ride on the #2 bike. Everything was ready. Now the reduced gear to wear. Just a summer outfit with arm and leg warmers. Still not that warm in the shadows. There are a lot of shadows here on the Island. I was looking good in skin tight. I must have weighed 5 pounds less by not having on all the winter gear. I was pumped. Two bottles of ZipFizz energy drink. A few gels. All the tire gear in one of my 3 pockets of the Competitive Cyclist jersey. My white Sidi carbon fiber shoes. I could see my fingers for the first ride since October of 2007. I was ready to go. Just feeling and looking great. It was going to be a surprising. Oh, also I was running normal gears on my cranks, 53X39. I have been on 50X34 all winter. I checked the gear chart to remind me what gears use. Over all there not that much different. Just more power in the 53X39. I was ready for the power. It was going to be a normal route. Only a little longer. Not much though. I had been working short miles since I over trained. Doing the easy rides to build my system back up. Just 33 and 36 miles. That's a little short for me. So today would be close to 50 miles. I am in great shape and I can do almost any mileage I want. 20 to 100 miles I will be fine. Maybe 120 to 150 and I will have to stop a few times for fuel and a stretch. So 50+- would do for today. So as soon as I get out on the road in just mins I see the first group ride going the other way. A normal group the fast guys leaving the slow guys and the few middle guys wondering what to do. I was not interested in that. I wanted to do my own training. On thru Bayview Corners working my way to Lone Lake Road I came up on a rider. A century type rider. Older bike, but the guy could ride all day. I have seem his type. So I just did the stealth thing on his rear wheel for a bit to see how he rode. The hills slowed him up a bit. It was then that he noticed me on his wheel. In the past I would just dusted a guy like this off and leave him in my rear. These days I was interested to see who he was. Turned out to be an organizer type for long rides with his friends from Seattle. He had just moved to the Island 4 months before. He was very fit. Just not very fast. Fast enough to hang with for a bit. My age to, real old. His name was John and he lived about 10 miles from Mary Anne and I. On the other side of a big hill. There was going to be a big organizational meeting for a South Island Bike group. More political than anything.He pitched it to me and told me where and when. I promptly forgot. We did have a nice chat though. He took a left, I was going strait up Lone Lake Hill. Next time John. I was feeling so sparky. My legs were full of power from the easy rides. I was still holding back. Not trying to over do, but the #1 bike is such a fast and good bike on the hills. It just wants to go. No wasted effort on this bike. I push the peddles it goes strait to the wheels. Best bike I have ever ridden for the hills. I can climb 2 gears bigger than my other bike. 2 to 3 MPH faster to. Going up hill! It's very fast on the flats or rollers to. I got to Saritoga Road with it's steep section. Wondered how it would go. It went great. Still a very hard and steep hill, but not to long. Then it was a fast ride into Langley. Not over the top though. Fast and at a low heart rate. Pushing a big gear easy and shifting smart. Never saw the Red Zone. Did the easy ride through the town and off to Maxwellton Road. A easy climb to some flats on top past the schools and to the other side of SR 525. Everything was going good. I was having a few gear problems though. The gear on the rear wheel are on the old side and are worn. The chain was skipping on the smaller cogs. I was going to have to replace these. I also will replace the derailleur on the rear from a short cage to a mid size cage. Everything else was working perfect. The speed was so good. I guess there was a lot less drag having skin tight gear on. So on I went to all the hills I have learned to love. Yeah, I love hills. Well when I'm on my own. When I don't have some 150 pound person showing me how big I am. At 215 pounds the fight with weight really shows up with gravity. For now I am king of the climbs. I did all the normal climbs and had a great time. Then it was back towards Langley and cross SR 525 at Kens Corners. there is a fast down hill before the the traffic lights. I was going to get the green light if I hurried. I was going faster than the cars as I went through the light. I found out later that Mary Anne saw me as she was at Ken's Corners. I never saw her. I just kept going. Got my speed back down to a good pace and made my way to Langley now on Langley Road. I got to the town and it was about PILL time so I went through downtown Langley looking for a clock of some sort, nothing. Then I looked and saw one of those hills going from down town to out of town. Steep, long enough to hurt an old guy at the last 9 or so miles of a ride. I put my head down. Remained in the saddle and just went up easy as that. I was stunned at how well the bike and I did. At the top I was not even in the Red Zone. I had avoided this hill since we moved to the Island. Not a long climb, just steep. The kind people don't walk up very often. There it was, a fear turned out to nothing more than foolishness. After that it was more hills and good times. I was into the last part of the ride. The last 3 or so miles. I felt fine. I got home. I felt fine. I did not feel drained at all. I could have gone a lot longer. I could feel the winter miles in my legs telling me the effort was worth the time. The prize had been the work.