Moving On

The original purpose behind The Fourteen Percent Ride has long since been fulfilled. So, I've decided that Mighty Proud will be the last posting. It just seems right.

But, don't worry. Or maybe you should. In any event, I plan to continue. I'll keep riding. And writing. Click here to come along in my new blog ~ The Long White Line. <-- check it out!

Thanks

As I've ridden for the last two years, I've picked up on the fact that Shirley, my darling wife, has been more worried about my safety than impressed with my "accomplishments." How do I know this? Well, when I'd come back and tell her, for example, that I'd hit 53.6 mph going down FO, she'd reply, "I don't want to hear it." Being the sensitive sort I figured out, after many such comments, that just maybe we were not on the same page here. But last week, she told me that she would "greatly reduce her focus on the 'fear for my safety' issue." We talked about the tour, looked at some maps, researched nutrition suggestions on the internet, and so on, just enjoying the idea of the ride. How nice is that? Thank you, Shirley!

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Orders

Yesterday’s wind has not left town yet. Nor have the gray clouds. So, on this day of rest, I rode again. Shirley said I had to. Really. I HAD to ride. She was right, of course. Saddle sore (I’ll spare you any more details) and a little tired, I left home at about 1 p.m. Inspection had revealed that my shifter lever wasn’t cracked, as I had feared, but, there was some problem. Maybe the cable slipped. The ride today was to be along the river. No hills, so shifting up and down on the chain ring wouldn’t be an issue.

Continuing my resolve to eat better as part of my training, I had a scone with my Caribou coffee early this morning (but hey, it was reduced fat), then cake and ice cream at church, celebrating our pastor’s 25 years of service. So far, so good. A banana before the ride and I was off.

Riding against the wind towards Stoddard, I stayed down in the aero bars most of the time. Using them for the third time, I’m getting more comfortable. But they do, as I’ve noted, put you in an unstable configuration. Any perturbations are magnified, making it harder to follow rule #1 of riding: Keep the wheels below the handlebars.

The ride took me a couple of miles south of the power plant in Genoa. Coming back allowed the wind to provide a helpful push. While not a challenging ride, it was pleasant. And rewarding to know I could do the 36.6 miles with relative ease after yesterday’s hard 108 mile trek. Speaking of which, the Trek is still in the shop. Waiting for parts.

Total ~ 901.2 miles

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