After a fast training ride yesterday and a night of wine-drinking last night at my sister-in-law's house, I was hoping for a nice easy Friday morning ride today. A cool front blew through yesterday evening and it was much cooler this morning, although the real issue was the strong North wind. Just as the small Friday group was about to start, Robin rode up accompanied by Brad. Surprise! Hadn't seen Brad in quite a while. He was very active racing around here a couple of years ago, but got married and moved to North Carolina and so there hasn't been a lot of communication since then. So anyway, it was nice to catch up with Brad, who was here for a friend's wedding, even though Rob was intent on keeping the pace faster than I would have liked. One thing I remember about Brad was the time that he and a few of the other local guys went up to ride the "Six-Gap Century." Brad and Kenny ended up finishing with the top 10 or so riders (I think Brad was 2nd or something), proving that there is no real secret to climbing hills other than having a very good power to weight ratio.
By the time I got back home this morning, I was really cold, even though the temperature was around 60F. I think that I got a little sweaty when the pace got fast and then when it slowed down and rode easily talking with Robin and Brad I got chilled. I suppose that cotton T-shirt I had on under my jersey contributed to that.
Still, the hardest thing I did all morning was plodding up the Broad St. overpass on the still overgeared commuter with a heavy bag over my shoulder and a strong headwind in my face! When I got to work today, I noticed a new fixie commuter in the bike room. Unlike the other one that's usually there, this one is built up in the true tradition, using a mixture of salvaged parts. An old Mondonico frame, bullhorn handlebars made from old racing bars and a hacksaw, an old mountain bike triple crankset converted to a single, etc. The other fixie is what you'd call "uptown retro." It's got a nice Miche track crank, drop bars with a fancy quill stem, a leather Brooks saddle with the big brass rivets, some kind of luggage rack thing attached to the seatpost, etc. Very nice, of course, but very few recycled parts.
We'll be doing our first winter training ride this Sunday, and so I need to send out an e-mail and map out a route today. It'll be nice to be out in the country again, and it's looking like the weather will be really nice.
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