Silence is Golden

I feel like I had one of my most enjoyable rides ever today. I went riding this afternoon after hustling through what I had to get done at Pendleton today. I was going to go ride in the morning, but I just wasn't feeling it dog...

Anyway, My bike had recently developed a clicking sound. Upon each revolution of the cranks it would go "click". When there is a lot of other noise around you, you don't notice it much. But when you are strugling up a hill at 6MPH you hear nothing but that damn clicking!!!!!!

I had just taken my bike into Trek about 2-3 weeks ago and they put on a new chain and cleaned the gears. The sound started right after that. So of course it was their fault (of couse I am wrong again).

It was just a coincidence. My actual hub was dirty, in that there was sand or dirt in it. So the mechanic told me he would take it apart and clean it and that should make the clicking go away.

I am happy to report it did!!!!

When I started my ride I could not believe how quiet my bike was. All I could hear was the whiring of my wheels. for a cyclist it's almost nirvana like. If you ever watch a time trial it's the sound you hear there. just one guy pedaling; whir,whir,whir. It was fantastic.

My First Century

Last Saturday I did my first Century!!!

I didn't even realize I had done it until Dave (one of the ride leaders) had mentioned it to me at mile 63.

Wait for it.......

Yes we did a metric century, 100 kilometers!!!!

5 hours in the saddle...

Ohhh I hurt.

I went out and bought some new shorts this week. Hopefully that will help.

Honey Springs Road

My ride this last saturday was a doozy. I had no idea there was such a creature so close to where I live.

This last Saturday we rode from the Rancho San Diego area to the Chula Vista Trek store, back out Otay Lakes to the 94 and then up HONEY SPRINGS ROAD.....

It sounds nice enough, but trust me 7 miles of climbing in 104 degree heat (and I mean climbing, a little over 2000 feet of climbing) can really test a cyclist. Quite a few people actually didn't make it had to stop and get picked up so they could fight another day. If you live in Chula Vista and are familiar with Chick-Filet hill imagine going up that for 7 miles in 104 degree heat. I actually had to stop 3 times myself just for a breather each time.

I drank 5 bottle of fluid (either Gatorade or water), ate 8 fig newtons, 2 Gu packs, and 2 sport bean packs and still came back 3.5lbs lighter than when I left that morning.

After the hill we still had about 15 miles of riding to get back to the start, but after the hill, that was nothing. Here is a link to the ride.

The real kicker of it, was the heat and the fact that the hill came in the back part of the ride. Until now, most of our climbing has been in the front part of the ride, which makes sense, as each week builds upon the previous. Next week has even more total climbing, but it's broken out a bit more and no single hill as severe as HONEY SPRINGS ROAD.