Grey Day Replay

Soaking wet streets, a light drizzle and temperatures in the 40s spelled doom for the Giro Ride today and left me under the covers listening to the sounds of car tires on wet roads until the unfamiliar hour of 8:30 am. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer and got up, eventually to wander down to the basement where I installed a pair of Look Keo pedals on the Orbea. That was the easy part, of course, because the real trick is bolting the cleats onto the shoes in the correct positions. Actually, that was the second-hardest trick. The hardest one was getting the old red Look cleats off. I struggled with a big screwdriver and frozen bolts for a good fifteen minutes before the old Nike shoes finally relinquished the past and accepted the future, which in this case was grey. The rain had finally eased up, but the streets were wet and slick and full of puddles, so my entire test ride consisted of a quick ride down to the end of the block and back. Tomorrow I'll be riding with a couple of allen wrenches in my pocket.


So I waited as long as I could, but around 12:30 I pumped up the tires on the trusty full-fendered Pennine and pointed its vintage Cinelli 1A and exposed cable, gum-hooded Campi levers toward the long wet levee bike path. It was another damp, windy grey day up there and I settled in for what I figured would be a long quiet ride. Somewhere out there, though, I heard someone come up from behind. It was Ed N. who was out on his fixed gear Van Dessel experimenting with his aero bars. Another Van Dessel! I don't think I'd ever heard of them until about a year ago, and then Gina V. ends up on a team sponsored by them and then just yesterday I get an email from them about team sponsorships. So anyway (I use that term a lot, don't I?) we ended up riding all the way out to the end of the bike path, and then back into a nice little headwind. We passed Chad, heading the opposite direction, twice. Toward the end I finally started to realize that a cup of coffee is probably not adequately nutritious for a two hour plus ride, so I dropped back and sucked wheel for the last few miles. I'm sure I'll have ample opportunity to exercise my self-destructive tendencies tomorrow. At least the weather should be better!


I have to say, it was really nice to arrive home after a long ride on wet roads with a bike that didn't even need to be wiped down and shorts that didn't have a wet muddy grey stripe up the back. Fenders rule!