And It's Good!

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 12.5% BF

I picked up my new singlespeed from Curt's Cyclery Friday night, and took it out on the towpath as soon as I got home. That's not the place where a bike like that necessarily shines, but I still had a blast. I ran into Joe and Cindy out by Freemansburg, rode back with them. Doing the old hamster legs, 12-15 mph especially on the way out and my legs were spinning; on the way back we had a a more relaxed pace (they had their dog, and they didn't want to overwork her) butI still had a good cadence, and the gearing felt easy. That changed on the way up from the river though: 5 minutes standing climb, ouch.

Friday night was Which Brew for dinner, met Brian and saw Stu & Kathy, also a bunch of the peeps who just got back from Prague. Two guys I didn't see were Heath & Hans; I wanted to invite them to the Chili Ride on Saturday. Oh well, I tried via email earlier in the week. Their loss, since that was a good day as well.

The Chili Ride: I thought I wasn't going to make the start, but I wasn't even the last to arrive (not many showed up to ride in the November drizzle anyway); unfortunately I realized, partway into the ride, that I'd forgotten to change to my riding lenses, so I rode back to the car and played catch-up for a big part of the day. I missed a turn, didn't see anyone and so rode around semi-lost until I found myself on the old racecourse by the scout camp, then everything was gravy -- and then I ran into Beth and two others coming the opposite direction. They were the "slow group," and I hooked up for the last few miles and we rode out together. Back to Beth & Kevin's, where they had a their 10th Annual Chili Contest. A total blast: beer, chili, prizes and even a bonfire though it was kind of drizzly so we trooped back inside after a while...

Saturday's ride was on the Turner. Sunday we (Doug, Brian, Pete, Eric, Joe and myself) went to Riverside Park (or Walking Purchase Park, depending on who you ask -- it's in Salisbury behind St Luke's Hospital), where we helped the VMB with their ongoing project to build a trail system there. Amazing job so far, mostly done by that guy John, and also by Creepy Dave (hey, credit where it's due). We did about 4 hours work, put about a mile's worth of new trail in, then Doug Joe and I rode for about 2 hours -- Joe and I on our singlespeeds, Doug on his Turner.

I was a little afraid of how things would work out with the new bike, since it's completely rigid (no suspension front or rear), and Salisbury is a tough place, but the Surly is a well-set-up bike, good geometry and fit etc, and I felt very confident riding just about anything I'd take the Turner over -- more important, I was able to ride it all too. (The only negative is that the ride is harder & way more tiring on the upper body.) The singlespeed part of it was a bit harder to deal with, since I ended up going a little slower than I'd have liked for that gearing. Twisty, rough surface, lots of slight uphill grades after tight-radius turns, I had trouble maintaining momentum and staying on top of the gear. It was tough, but that's why I got it.

Anyway, now I'm filthy, just woke up from a nap while the laundry was cooking. Now it's my turn in the shower.