changing gears 2

After that whiny self-reflective post, I got a lot of feedback. Much of it consisted of "use a bigger gear". So I took off the 22 and put on the 20. Started off at Big Flat yesterday with 13 people, and ended up with 4 of us, six hours later after an extra fun jaunt on 3-Mile Trail. That gear felt fine all day, and I kept up on the fireroads for the most part. It didn't seem to hurt any more than the lower gear, but we didn't do anything stupid like Dead Woman Hollow either.

I also got in a couple of pleasant, short, solo road rides last week. Well, as pleasant as the Gilbert Rd. climb can be. This makes me think that maybe I do care about fitness some after all. I know the key to bike fitness is road riding, and if I rode the road twice lately, hmm, maybe I just do care. Or, maybe it's the time of the season to ramp it up? Or, maybe I just wanted a bike ride without getting all beat to hell in the rocks? Nah, I like getting beat up, must be something else.

The road riding from Chambersburg can be sublime. Quiet, rolling farm and orchard roads, Mennonites working the fields, the vast emptiness of Letterkenny. In 2 hours, I think only 5 cars passed me from behind the other day. If I want more work than just rolling, I can climb up Gilbert into Buchanan State Forest and head down into Fulton County or up into the Shippensburg area.

This week is the beginning of the Wednesday at Wakefield series. I was the defending SS Chump for 2005, but sat just off the wood in 4th in 2006, as everyone else got wise to the bigger gear trick for that flat course. Ironically, I rode the biggest gear I could (34x15) at those races and was always up front. I hope to make most of these races since I'm always looking for reasons to drive back to put in a day in the office (my paycheck still comes from Virginia). Was hoping to be able to hit the post-race Kilroys laps at the bar, and then crash with Nick or someone, but now Kim has a 6 AM boot-camp at the YMCA on Thursday mornings, so I'm gonna need to be home for Oliver. I'm not sure what to do yet.., but maybe I'll see some old friends this week.