Three Days of Riding

I was able to slip out of the office around 4:30 on Friday and get home in time to get in a quick 20 miles. It was a lovely afternoon but I forgot my gloves. Whodathunk those things actually provide so much comfort. My hands were tingling throughout the ride....not comfortable.

Saturday I was scheduled to go on a 65 mile ride with some other Colorado RAGBRAI'ers. I woke to rain, albeit clearing, and the start of some chilly winds. I bailed. Feeling guilty I hooked up the tag-a-long. B and I did a short, cold very very windy ride. It wasn't much fun frankly - the gusts were unbelievable and nearly knocked us over several times.

Today I overslept so missed another ride with RAGBRAI'ers. I hit the road about 9:30 and got in a good 45 miles - to Chatfield, up the damn, and back. It didn't knock me out nearly as much as it did last week. By the time I got to REI, 5 miles from home, I felt like I could do another 20. I called G and he needed me to get home for kid duty while he had band practice.

I've been considering upgrading my shifters and gears before the ride. I go back and forth... When I bought this bike I did so fully because of the fit, intending to replace the base-level components. Well, now I have 500-ish miles on them and they are still doing fine. The rear deraileur is slipping just a tad but I think I got it adjusted right today. I've been asking around and getting very mixed feedback on this group. Some say they are crap and I should upgrade, others say they have thousands of miles on theirs. We'll see.....