Basic_B

Back from a short ride on the single-speed. My original plan for going out on my new Fuji were squashed when I realized I hadn’t dried all my cycling clothing from the washing. So I got to work on finishing that bit of laundry this morning, and then shifted gears to take a shorter ride on the fixie.

I only went out for about 12 miles, but it was harsh—not from temperature, although it was a little chilly too, but from wind. I discovered, to my chagrin, that the longest and steepest hill on the route I chose was also headed directly into a terrible headwind. I think it’s the first time that I ever seriously considered walking my bike up that hill. I didn’t though. I made it, with my head down and just focusing on turning the pedals over.

At the end of things, given the wind, it’s probably a good thing that I took a short and hard ride, as opposed to having tried to do a longer one. I might have found myself in a spot of bother out on the rode and far from home.

79/365: first ride

Originally uploaded by BasicB

79/365
The first ride on my new bike—Fuji Team Pro 2009. This is at around 10 miles in, just a random corner with a convenient street sign for leaning against.

I did almost 24 miles, and averaged 14.7. That average is kind of sad, but I haven’t been riding hardly at all over the winter. Now with the new bike I’ll have to break that habit and put on the serious miles again, and the average will go back up as will ride distance.

I’m really impressed by the ride quality of this bike compared with my previous one. This is way smoother. It’s a carbon frame instead of aluminum. All the components are higher quality as well so everything just works smoother, faster, better…like shifting and braking. I think I’m going to have lots of good rides on this bike. The saddle may be the only thing that I’ll think about swapping out and sticking with the one I’ve been using.

78/365: the reach

Originally uploaded by BasicB

78/365
This is the view of my new road bike looking back from the handlebars, along the top tube, to the saddle.

All I can say is “yay tax return!”

Expect to see more pictures of this in the future.

Specifications:
BOTTOM BRACKET: Shimano Exterior Bearing System
BRAKES: Shimano Ultegra dual pivot w/cartridge pad
CASSETTE: Shimano 105, 12-25T 10-speed
CHAIN: Shimano 105 10 speed
CRANKSET: Shimano Ulterga HollowTech II w/ Integrated spindle, 7075 CNC 39/53T Chainrings
FORK: FC-440 Fuji Carbon Monocoque Integrated 1 1/8″ Carbon steerer
FRAME: Monoque C-4 carbon with custom uni-directional carbon strands, Integrated aluminum cupped head tube, Double water bottle mounts, C-4 carbon stays with shaped ride tuned Energy Transfer Chainstay, cold forged dropout with replaceable hanger
FRONT DERAILLEUR: Shimano Ultegra F-Type
GRIPS/TAPE: Fuji Custom Micro-fibre wrap
HANDLEBAR: Fuji UltraLite 6061 Double Butted, 31.8mm w/Anatomical drops
HEADSET: Cane Creek 1 1/8″ Integrated, w/ Convex hollow alloy spacer
LEVERS: Shimano Ultegra STI
PEDALS: NA
RACK MOUNTS: No
REAR DERAILLEUR: Shimano Ultegra
SADDLE: NEW San Marco Ponza w/Embossed logo and cro-mo rails
SEATPOST: Fuji Pro Carbon wrapped Al, 300mm
SHIFTERS: Shimano Ultegra STI shifter/brake, 20-speed Flight Deck compatible
STEM: Fuji PRO Alloy 3D forged, +/-7 degree
TIRES: Continental Ultra Race 700X23c (Foldable)
WHEELSET: Mavic Aksium Race, 700c clincher

Things didn’t come together this morning quite like I had in mind. First, last night I failed to gather my gear for cycling. This usually helps me in the morning so that I’m not searching through drawers in the dark. But…nope…didn’t do it. So this morning I’m running up and down the stairs trying to find the right undershirt to wear. And then I checked the weather and realized it was about ten degrees cooler than I thought it was, and I needed a little more gear…long fingered gloves for one.

After finally finding all the right clothing, I then started to put my saddle bag back on the bike and discovered the strap was broken. I unpacked the spare tube and tools and shoved them into one of my back pockets. It was at this time I discovered I didn’t have my spoke wrench. With all the problems I’ve been having with my rear wheel I kind of wanted to have that wrench along. I looked for ten minutes and never did find it. It’ll turn up eventually, but it was time lost this morning.

Then, I finally hit the road and was about four miles into the ride when I realized I didn’t put my phone in my back pocket. Crap, if I did have a breakdown I couldn’t call Marcella. I decided to keep riding, but not to roam too far out of town. I did some loops that kept me within what I felt was a reasonable distance from the house.

I only did 23 miles and averaged about 16.2 mph. Even so, my toes were a little chilly when I got back to the house. Now I’m drinking coffee and watching the CBS morning show. But I need to remember to get my act together prior to the morning I’m intending to ride. Especially as we head into the colder months and there’s more to carry and wear.

How many weeks has it been since I’ve gotten in a good ride? I’m not sure, but I finally got a decent ride in again this morning, and I got to explore a little bit; connect some roads that I never tried before and basically combine pieces of different rides.

I headed out a little before 8 A.M. The weather was fairly comfortable, maybe even just slightly on the cool side, but I didn’t wear any extra gear. I knew it would warm up soon enough. Basically I headed south out of Greensboro into the surrounding County roads, and a little bit into Randolph County.

The new portion of the ride is where I branched off onto River Mill Road and then Hockett Dairy Road (yes there was actually a dairy farm). I used this to connect through, with a brief patch on Randleman Road, to Davis Mill Road which took me to Steeple Chase and then on into the Pleasant Garden Community. The riding is pretty nice over there. I think the name fits.

There was one patch of surprising traffic as I looped back home on Ritters Lake Road between Pleasant Garden Road and South Elm. I think people are using that segment to connect through to an interstate exchange nearby on Elm, but I didn’t remember there being so much traffic before at that hour of the morning on a Sunday.

Anyway, all total I managed 36.7 miles with an average speed of 16 mph. It’s not earthshaking, but at least I got the miles in my legs, and it made me happy.