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So, most women would only be as excited as I am right now over jewelry or something similar. What has me so excited? You guessed it – bike stuff!
I’m upgrading from a triple to compact double, and from Campagnolo Centaur to Chorus gruppo on my lovely Scott CR1 Pro. I’ve wanted a compact double since riding one in California, and who wouldn’t want Chorus over the good, but lower end (and 2005) Centaur.
Today I took my bike into my LBS, Al’s Bicycles, to get a tune-up and overall check-up to see if anything needed repair. I have upwards of 15,000 miles on my bike with only the chain having been replaced so I knew it was likely something would. I love my Scott, the frame is still solid so I don’t really need a new bike nor do I even want one – road bike that is. A “city “ type bike is another story.
Anyway, after checking it out it was determined my cassette, chain and middle chain ring all needed replacing. My husband suggested why not take the opportunity to switch to a compact double and the idea was born. Al’s figured it out and ran the numbers for me, offered me a nice discount and now Rocket’s new parts are on order.
I feel good about doing it, upgrades are cheaper than new bikes, and I doubt I would find a comparable frame any more comfortable or responsive than my Scott. I’ve put enough miles on her to warrant it too. I’m expecting there to be a significant improvement in performance – I hope I’m not disappointed.
This is what I’m getting, Campagnolo Chorus 11 (love the finish, should look great with my frame):
And this is how excited I am:
Here’s an excellent graphic that explains what a driver sees as they approach a person riding a bike.
Personally I don’t usually ride in the middle of the lane (although at times I do when I need to control the lane e.g., riding up a hill), I ride slightly more to the right, but the point here is NOT to ride along the white line. Ride far enough into the lane so that vehicles must change lanes to pass you. If you give them enough room to squeeze by you that’s what they’ll try to do, putting you at great risk.
Someone on our Facebook page commented that they couldn’t ride like this because they have to ride as far right as possible (laws generally state as far to the right as is safe or practicable) so as to not impede the flow of vehicular traffic (even though bikes are recognized as vehicles).
What are your thoughts about this, agree or disagree? Please explain your position.
The UCI (International Cycling Union) has posted a survey they would like all of cycling’s "stakeholders" and fans to take. This is your chance to make your voice heard directly by the UCI. I encourage you to complete it, please give this some time. We need to make our voices heard.
I read Tyler Hamilton’s book last night, “The Secret Raceâ€. The book was an eye-opening read into the world of professional racing, and not a pretty one. The doping problem in cycling was worse than I ever imagined – and like any serious fan, I knew it was bad. I blame the UCI more than the individual cyclists. Yes, the riders are responsible too, but without UCI allowing doping, the doping culture could not have been. Instead we would have isolated doping not the wholesale doping that Hamilton speaks to.
I for one am not convinced professional cycling is much cleaner now. Whether cycling will be (mostly) clean in the future remains to be seen; in large part it depends on whether the anti-doping mechanism is taken away from the UCI and given to an entity without any conflict of interest in the sport of racing.
The survey is probably just a marketing ploy by UCI, but what the hell, fill it out. It can’t hurt.
http://www.aspectmr.co.uk/snapwebhost/surveylogin.asp?k=136079311931
Sunday ride actually. Windy, but warm so we rode. Windy is when the winds are so high the forecast just says “Windy†and shows something like this:
We have a lot of wind in Oklahoma (think of the lyrics of Oklahoma… where the wind goes sweeping down the plain, think of dust bowl images… okay you’ve got the right picture) so if you can’t ride in strong wind, you miss out on a lot of riding opportunities.
I draw the line at riding in tornadoes. I have been known to ride in thunderstorms, but not by choice.
Anyway, we rode today. 
Hope you got a chance too.
A scene from our ride (Oklahoma isn’t all flat).
