Again, a single entry to catch up on a bunch of things.
Half Marathon
I had taken about a month off from serious cycling to get ready and run the
Columbus Half Marathon. See my previous post about the actual race day activities and results. The next two weeks sucked as I caught a cold for the first week and then it rained the entire second week. So I had two weeks without much exercise at all, gained a few pounds.
Essay Contest
On Oct 30th I saw that there was an essay contest in
Dirt Rag. The due date was Nov 1. So I hastily scrapped together an essay about riding the whole of the GAP and C&O trail in one day/night. 340 miles in 30 hours. It is a ride I very much want to do, but at this point it will have to be a fictional essay. I have been thinking for a year about writing a murder mystery novel that features this area, so I brought out some of those ideas for the essay. I hope I win ... a Pivot Mach 5.7 is first prize. Trick or Treat night was actually on Halloween this year. We went out for a cold hour ... in the rain!
Riding Again
I was finally able to get out a ride again after 7 straight days of blustery, cold rain. That hurricane Sandy did a number on us with precip but nothing like the NY/NJ coast. So I can't complain too much. I got out on Thursday evening for a short 30 mile ride. Then all day Friday for a long 68 mile ride to Columbus (see below). Today (Sunday) I joined Gorrilla and a group of five others for a solid gravel ride. We started in Glenford and did 43 miles with 4500 feet vertical. It was beautiful roads, several I've been on before but some new stuff too. The whole route was up and down, a real climbing sufferfest. Sada was having a bad day and so it was fun being in front of him most of the day; I know he can kick my ass without problem on a regular day. I was surprised that I was able to hang in with the group and not be the one at the rear that everyone waits for. I was strong right through the last climb! I did almost lose it on one gravel corner; got the rear going sideways and managed to save it. John said it looked impressive, I said it wasn't intentional. Guys were on very different bikes. Regular cross bikes (as in $15k bikes that weigh nothing), a single speed steel rig and even a 29er hardtail.
Bikes
On Friday I rode in to Paradise Garage to test ride a couple of bikes. Mostly the new Salsa Warbird. I got there to discover it was the Aluminum version, not the Ti as I had been told. They had it set up way too high, more like a geriatric hybrid than a gravel RACING bike. So it was very hard to get a feel for the bike since the set up was so wrong. But Salsa did design this bike with a tall head tube so it does sit up a bit more anyway. The Al was very stiff, probably too much. I really need to try the Ti. I also got on a Foundry carbon Auger. It was very sweet and soaked up the bumps with aplomb. I thought it outshone the Salsa even though I thought I would like that bike better. The Auger has these sexy carbon seat stays. It is super light. I really like John's Ti Warbird so I will wait to try one at Freeze Thaw. Either way, I don't have the $4k for a new warbird so I'll have to win the essay contest or wait a while.
