Getting Some Ride Time Logged

The post on Friday past made me think: "I'd better get a move on and ride some gravel!" That is because CIRREM is quickly approaching. That is a "metric century", so it will be the same distance as Triple D, more or less. (Likely slightly less)

Electrical wires....hrrumph!

I had to back off after Triple D for awhile on riding. That really knocked me for a loop, physically. I was fatigued for days on end afterward, and recovery took a while. I was super pleased with my result, since training ahead of that event was, well........not very intense, shall we say?

That and I got really sick there for a bit ahead of Triple D, which made me think, "If I just finish Triple D, it'll be a success." Well, obviously I did, so it wasn't just a success, but coming in 22nd overall was a fantastic result, for me.

So, at any rate, here I am afterward feeling pretty drained, and no wonder at that. I wasn't surprised. But I let the riding go a bit too long. At least serious riding. So, I got started this weekend and put in a good longer gravel road ride. I wanted to do that Saturday, but frigid temps and high winds with the resulting low wind chill factor kept me off the dusty tracks.

I decided also that I would try taking the Black Mountain Cycles bike out and make that my CIRREM rig. The Retroshift levers worked okay. (More on those later) I also used a new bib short. Not very good! They will not be getting used for CIRREM, I'll tell ya that. My posterior was not interfacing with that chamois in a happy way.

I may go sans Tangle Bag for this one.

Which leads me to this "mini-rant". I got geared up to do this ride in the "traditional garb" of a road going or mountain going cyclist. Bib shorts, base layer in wool, thick, winter weight tights, heavy long sleeved wool jersey, winter cycling jacket, "booties" over two pair of wool socks and my cycling shoes, and finally, a thick, long wristed winter glove. A hat under my helmet too, by the way.

Typically, when riding the fat bikes, it is "slip on the winter boots, grab my helmet, winter jacket, gloves, out the door. No other cycling specific gear at all, and it is enjoyable. The freedom of movement, the time saved, and I actually feel just as good and as warm as I did today with all that cycling specific stuff on.

The big difference is time saved and movement. I do not like the restrictive feelings I get when wearing tights, and most cycling winter layering stuff. That's one of the reasons I wore Dickies on almost every winter ride so far, and I almost did for Triple D too. I didn't wear bib shorts, or any cycling specific chamois at Triple D, and I am thinking I may not at CIRREM as well. Bam! Works for me, but don't take my gear as a recommendation for you. It just so happens to work for me, that's all. I'm thinking two or three layers of skin tight clothing is two or three layers too many for me.

Well, enough about that! There was one other thing I think I'll switch out before CIRREM on the bike, and that is to go back to the original Black Mountain Cycles fork. The carbon Bonty fork is waaaaay stiff! I know the steel BMC fork feels much smoother.

Other than that, the ride went off without a hitch, and I should have my set up honed in this week. Maybe I'll have myself honed in too.