Ride Your Age

Apryl's Birthday Ride, My Almost Birthday Ride #1

An old cycling tradition, one that, as most do, challenges reality, is to ride your age in miles, or kilometers, or centimeters on your birthday. Of course the idea of increasing the mileage as you age eventually becomes problematic for obvious reasons. Complicating the situation is whether or not you actually have the time to do that on the appointed day. As I was contemplating this conundrum a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the GCBC was planning a 73-mile President's Birthday Ride out of Waveland, conveniently scheduled for the Saturday before my birthday, and featuring just about the perfect mileage. So, throwing caution to the wind, I signed up. A week later, Dustin and some of the Tulane riders started planning on a 72 mile ride out of Abita Springs for the Sunday before my birthday. So Plan B, I guess.

Thursday morning on the lakefront

As is typical this time of year, last week's rides were impacted a bit by the weather. In this case, it wasn't the temperature, which was mostly unseasonably warm, it was the fog, which was seasonably thick. Although I had severe fog alerts on my phone for three consecutive mornings, the only really significant fog was on Thursday, and even that wasn't very bad, just requiring me to stash my fogged-up glasses in my pocket for the first hour. Then on Friday it rained early, so assuming that nobody would show up for Friendly Friday (which turned out to have been a bad assumption), I instead went out a little later to the levee and met up with the Tulane coffee ride. The forecast for the weekend was looking pretty great, so with two 70+ mile rides on my dance card, I welcomed the easier ride that day.

I headed out solo to Waveland Saturday morning at the conviently late hour of 6:30 to make the 8:00 am ride start at Buccaneer State Park. I arrived pretty early anyway, and was immediately greeted by a hourde of midges, aka "No Seeums."  I'm still itching from at least fifty little bites on my arms and legs despite having sprayed Off on them soon after arriving. Otherwise, though, the weather was practically perfect, and there was a surprisingly nice turnout out of the New Orleans area. I didn't know what to expect of this ride. The route covered a lot of the same roads we often ride out of Bay St. Louis. I was glad I'd loaded the route onto my computer because there were at least thirty turns along the way. With GCBC President Apryl leading the way, we headed down the beach to the bridge over the bay, where I thought things might get fast, but as it turned out almost all of the ride was done at a nice moderate pace that kept most of the main group together. As we got to within 15 miles or so of the end, the terrain flattened out and I started to sense some, shall I say impatience, at the front. The speed started creeping up, and soon the whole group was strung out going 30 mph with Connor on the front. Soon enough gaps started opening up and some riders started going backwards, and just as I was debating with myself whether I wanted to make the effort to close yet another gap, Branden came to the rescue and stitched it back together. Next thing I knew, it was just Connor, Joe Paul, Branden, and me, separated from the front group by a fairly small gap. Then Connor lit the afterburner, putting the remaining three of us into chase mode. We got the the Bay St. Louis bridge with Connor about a minute off the front, and Branden took one last pull before dropping back, leaving just Joe and me. By then we weren't really chasing any more, just trying to hold the pace and keep Connor's flashing tail light in sight. Back along the beach road I was surprised a couple of times when Joe pulled past me before I was ready to pull off from the front. As it turned out, he had been looking behind and realized that the group was in full chase mode and closing in on us! I  hadn't looked back, myself. We made it back to the finish with maybe fifteen or twenty seconds to spare. Anyway, it was a really fun ride, and I particularly enjoyed those last fifteen miles.  That evening I went over to the WeMoRi/Bayou Bicycles party for a couple of hours. It's always a little weird to see all of your regular riding friends wearing civilian clothes.

Sunday on the northshore

On Sunday I met up with a few of the Tulane riders for 6 am. It was the start of Thanksgiving break, so we had just Dylan and Sawyer for the drive over, but there were a number of riders, including Dustin, Jason, Steve M, Charles, Nick, and Evan already there when we arrived - mainly because I absolutely had to stop at Starbucks at Lakeside before heading across the Causeway. Again, the weather was great. As usual it was a bit colder on the northshore, so I had my arm-warmers on, but they weren't strictly necessary, especially after the first hour. Again, I had no idea how this ride would play out, and although my legs were feeling none the worse for wear after the prior day's 73 miles, I was hoping it wouldn't turn into a hammerfest too early. It didn't. In fact, the pace was generally quite confortable the whole time. The route included a little out-and-back on House Creek Road, and rather than risk blowing up my legs on the one or two little steep sections there that I knew would turn into a race, I turned around about a mile early so I could ride back up to Hwy 40 at a more civilized pace. A couple of people were waiting up there, having skipped that segment entirely. Anyway, it was a nice ride, and as we were coming back down the Tammany Trace toward the end at Abita Springs I noticed my computer was about to hit exactly 72 miles, so I miraculously hit the Stop button at precisely the right time to have Strava show exactly 72.00 miles. Afterward, Dylan headed out to make his flight home for the holiday, and Dustin, Sawyer, and I had lunch at the Brewpub. So although it was a couple of days early, I rode my age twice over the weekend. Meanwhile, my left ring finger is still swollen at the knuckle from that little fall about three weeks ago. I guess I must have done more damage than I'd thought. I finally broke down on Monday and cut my wedding ring so I could get it off, on the assumption that having what amounted to a tourniquet on the finger wasn't helping things. We'll see. 

Abita Brewpub

Early this morning, about an hour before the 5:20 am alarm went off, I could hear it raining outside. It was still very wet at 5:30, so I bailed on the Tuesday morning ride and waited until just after 6 am to take the 'cross bike out for a spin on the levee. I had grabbed the wrong Garmin this morning by mistake. It's the one that I had disconnected from my phone and on which I had disabled the heart rate and speed sensors because I'd lent it to someone a couple of weeks ago for one of the group rides so they'd have the route and map. I didn't know what would happen if there were two computers connecting to my phone and sensors on the same ride at the same time, but I figured it couldn't be good. I was halfway through the ride before I realized it. I did manage to reconnect my heart rate monitor while I was riding (the 'cross bike doesn't have speed or cadence sensors), but couldn't get it to pair with my phone. I tried again after I got home and it still wouldn't pair, which wasn't too surprising because that is always a problem with this setup.

Things at work are super quiet ahead of Thanksgiving, and I wouldn't be surprised if I am the only one on the entire floor right now. Unless something comes  up, which seems extremely unlikely, I'll probably head back home around mid-afternoon since we're planning to get together with a few people for a birthday dinner at Maple Street Cafe' this evening.

Tour de Jeff - Warmer Weekend

After a rather cold start to the week, a gradual warmup had begun by Wednesday. I was not complaining. While some obviously delusional people like to claim that 60°F is ideal cycling weather, I don't slap that label onto anything very far south of 70°, and even that is a bit of a stretch. Thursday morning started in the mid-upper 50s with barely any wind, and after most of the group turned off for home at Canal Blvd., Matt, Jess, and I continued out to the lake trail for the usual out-and-back with Matt doing much of the work. On this practically windless day, the 23-24 mph pace felt easy. When we got back to the east end of the bike path, Jess turned around to log even more miles while Matt headed home, leaving me to fend for myself in the morning commuter traffic. Jess seems to be on a high-mileage kick lately, and would end the week with well over 400 miles, while I would feel quite satisfied with my own relatively meager 278. 

Friday's Friendly Friday ride was, as usual, brisk but not brutal, and afterward I cautiously made my way down Carrollton Avenue to meet up with the Tulane coffee ride. I had noted that only three riders had indicated on Discord that they would be going, but with the nice warmer weather I thought perhaps a few more might show up. As it turned out, though, they had all bailed. I wandered up and down the levee for a while trying to find them, but finally gave up and went home to make my own coffee. Perhaps they were resting up for Sunday's Tour de Jefferson. Perhaps they were just using that as an excuse to sleep late. Who knows?

So on Saturday I went out as usual to Starbucks for the Saturday Giro Ride. It was around 60° with just a slight east wind, but we ended up with only maybe six. A small group like that is actually ideal for a steady paceline, and indeed that defined much of the ride. I guess a lot of people were saving their legs for the Tour de Jeff? 

This year Bill B had arranged to have $2,000 in prizes, 5-deep for men and women, for the Tour de Jefferson, which was held under USAC permit as a Gran Fondo. The idea was that the finish line, at least for prize purposes, would be shortly before the turn into the park where the big banner and stage were set up. I got there pretty early, and picked up my number (plate style) chip timing thing that, as usual, I had to modify to fit onto my handlebar underneath the computer mount. No roadies like those things, but fortunately, I've dealt with them a few times before. Still, everyone much preferred the flappy seat post style timing chips/numbers that were used last year, and I saw every possible alternative mounting configuration you could imagine - wrapped around the seatpost, wrapped around the handlebar, mounted lengthwise under the computer mount, wrapped around the head tube, etc. Turnout was defintely a bit better than last year. Bill made the usual announcements about safety and such to the group at the start, but I was still a little confused about exactly how he was going to manage the placings since I had seen neither a finish line nor a timing mat out on the road when I was warming up. On the other hand, I was quite certain it would not matter one bit for me. I was hoping that a 5-person break would go off the front early. I have always had a hard time riding like it's a race when it, technically, isn't. I just never feel comfortable taking the kinds of risks that come up with this kind of competitive free-for-all and riders who may or may not have the requisite experience.

As usual we started out at a controlled speed for the fist mile or so behind Bill's car. After the right turn onto the road leading to the first of numerous U-turns, Bill hit the gas and so did the front of the group. Immediately we were up into the 28-30 mph range. I was trying to stay reasonably close to the front, and over to the left, anticipating the usual chaos at the upcoming left-hand U-turn, and as we approached it I thought I was in a good enough spot somehwere in the front 25 or so. But then riders started making U-turns all over the place in front of me. I don't know if there was a traffic cone or something that we were supposed to go around, but if there was, I never saw it and had to start the U-turn early since everyone in front of me was turning into my path. That turned out to be a minor disaster for me when someone bumped me mid-turn and I had to unclip and put a foot down to remain upright. Then, it took me a couple of attempts to clip in as riders went streaming past. By the time I finally got up to speed the front of the group was already fading into the distance at 30+ mph and I was desperately looking for a wheel that might perhaps pull me across. Up ahead, there were nothing but gaps everywhere, and as I sat on someone's wheel hoping for a miracle, I saw Christian sprint past. I should have made the effort to go with him, but didn't. Big mistake. I think he was one of the last to make it up to what became the big front group. The riders around me didn't seem committed to any sort of organized chase, and so we all eventually came together to form a second group of about twenty. Meanwhile, a small break had gone off the front of the first group that eventually because six as two riders bridged up from the big front group. On the plus side, a few of the Tulane riders, including Jess, Dylan, Josiah, and Chris, were in that front group, and Pirmin was in the break, so a good showing there. Lisa was the first woman, and Sam the first man.

So once I kind of recovered from the initial disaster, and although the main group hovered within a minute of us for quite a while, I knew we were on our own. There were just a few in my group who seemed interested in working, and although I was already resigned to my fate, I did end up doing more work than usual, just for the exercise. It was still a nice ride and a decent enough workout, but we would ultimately finish five minutes behind the main group. At the start I had throught I'd started up navigation of the course that I'd loaded onto my computer, but it didn't seem to be working. I had really wanted to be able to see how far it was to the next U-turn, since this course featured no fewer than six of them. So once things settled down a little bit I started trying to load the course again while riding and not surprisingly managed to stop and save the ride altogether. So then I had to start the ride again from wherever I was at the time, and yet still couldn't seem to get the course navigation to work. Go figure. As it turned out, though, this group was never aggressive enough that it mattered much if I went around the U-turns at the front or at the back.

Surprisingly the break never put much more than a minute on the large lead group, and by the end even the break was a bit slower than the main group was last year, finishing in around 1:59 (we'd finished at 1:58 the year before). As we got close to the end I was expecting to see a timing mat or finish line of some sort, but never did. I think maybe the top-5 placings were determined via a regular video or something, while the times were determined by the timing mat inside the park that was well after the finish line that was used for the placings. I don't even know if there was anyone there with a phone/camera when our group came by. That led to some controversy for Jess, who apparently was pretty sure she was the third woman at the sprint point (wherever that was) but was awarded 4th based, I guess, on the chip timing. Jess went on to ride another couple of hours that day, logging over 140 miles. For me, I was a little disappointed at having missed being in the front group where I'm sure I would have been fine, but that's how it goes sometimes. On the plus side, the weather was pretty perfect allowing everyone to ride in just summer kit. You can't complain about that for an event in the middle of November. 

Thanks to my group's relatively moderate 24 mph pace, and the fact that nobody crashed on one of the thousand traffic cones, I ended the ride none the worse for wear, heading home just in time to say goodbye to Jay who had been at the house over the weekend to deliver and recover his daughter from the airport, and for a Saturday brunch to celebrate mu sister Patty's birthday at Vessel NOLA.

Mellow Monday had a nice turnout, again thanks to the nice weather, and this morning's ride was likewise done in summer kit. It was just Rich and me for the out-and-back to Williams Blvd., taking long pulls on an almost windless morning. Meanwhile, the ring finger on my left hand is still swollen from that fall on the railroad tracks about three weeks ago, and I'm seriously considering ordering a ring-cutter at this point. 

Out the Door

Big combined Saturday group

On days like this it's really hard just to get out the door in the morning. After some reasonably seasonable weather during the week, things kind of started going downhill around mid-day on Sunday, and this morning was the coldest we've had thus far this Fall. Not to worry, of course. It won't stay for long since it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

Wednesday morning's WeMoRi featured minimal wind and a comfortable temperature in the mid-upper 50s, but for reasons unknown seemed to have a lower turnout than usual. I slipped into the still-intact group along Marconi, shifting immediately from Zone 2 to Zone 1,000 as usual, but fortunately there wasn't a huge acceleration onto Wisner. I got my breathing back under control just in time for the sprint up the overpass, at which point Steve and Rob opened a huge gap as the rest of the group momentarily looked around at each other to see who would take the bait. Someone eventually did, but it wasn't until almost Marconi that it all came back together. The pace settled down a bit and despite having to respond to a surge or two on the way back from Elysian Fields, I was still feeling good enough to stay with the two or three wheels at the front for the sprint at Marconi. Charles was apparently out sick, and although he tried to make an early comeback on Thursday, he's still out for the count almost a week later, no thanks to the cold snap that hit us a couple of days ago.

On Friday I did the regular Friendly Friday ride, which was nice, and then rode down to the river for a little cool-down and coffee stop with the Tulane group. The weather was still pretty nice, but by then the forecast for Sunday was starting to look ominous.

Saturday's Giro had a decent enough turnout, and with a light tailwind the group sailed out to Venetian Isles at a steady 27-30 mph pace. As we approached the shade tree where everybody likes to stop we found the entire early SaMoRi waiting there. They had apparently had at least two flats that took a while to fix. So with both groups now merged into one we had a fun ride back. I guess there were 30-40 riders most of the way.

By Sunday morning it was clear that a cold front would be coming through right around ride time, and with the predicted wind speeds in the 20+ mph range, I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be much of a Giro, if any. The Tulane group had planned a ride out to around Hopedale, starting at 6:30, so I set my sights on that. I told them I'd meet them at the end of Nashville so I wouldn't have to negotiate Broadway, which is still torn up in places. When they arrived I wasn't too surprised to see only three. They had already formulated Plan B, which was to ditch the Hopedale route and instead do a lap of Lakeshore Drive and then a loop out to The Wall and then down to the river bike path. The wind was already blowing out of the WNW and would eventually climb into the 20-24 mph range as the ride progressed. Strategically, we would be riding into it earlier rather than later. This ride was strictly Zone 2 level, which was fine with me. For some reason Josiah spent about 90% of the time on the front - also fine with me. Anyway, it was a nice ride considering the wind. Of course, the wind was just the opening act of the cold front, and by Monday morning the temperature had dropped from the 60s to the 40s.

So when I rolled out of the house on Monday morning the temperature was around 42° and there was a steady north wind at, still, around 20 mph. Charles had already texted me that he was still sick and wouldn't be there, and I was pretty sure I'd be riding solo that morning, which is exactly what happened. In fact, I don't think I saw anybody else the entire ride. It was the first day I'd pulled on the long winter tights, long-sleeve jersey, and long-sleeve base layer. I was still cold.

This morning wasn't much better, and unsurprisingly it was just Wes and I at the start. It seemed even colder that the day before despite all the winter kit I'd piled on. As I headed out to the park I fumbled with the computer to switch to the screen that shows me the time of day, and noticed that it wasn't registering heart rate. I thought I had pressed the button on my optical HRM, but since it was under two layers of clothes I hadn't confirmed that it had started. Of course it hadn't. Oh well, my heart rate is just for my own curiosity anyway. So as we are starting the ride through City Park I'm kind of hoping that Maurizio won't show up. There's something about riding in the cold that just seems to sap the motivation out of me, and for the record, it takes a bit of motivation just to stick on Maurizio's wheel. Of course a moment later I saw Maurizio turn around to join us. Atypically, however, there weren't any other riders, so I guess the regular Tuesday morning group hadn't materialized because of the cold and wind, which by the way was now blowing strongly out of the east. So Maurizio led us out to the Armory into the wind with me glued to his wheel, but when he stood up to go up the rise at the loop there I just didn't have the motivation to accelerate again. Wes eventually came around me and Maurizio slowed down so we could catch. After they turned off I continued onto the lake trail, enjoying the tailwind and dreading the long slog I knew I'd have to endure on the way back. On the plus side, I was all alone so there was nobody there to see how slowly I was going.

It looks like the weather will now be warming back up to what passes for normal this time of year with low temperatures in the upper 50s to mid-60s for the forseeable future. The Tour de Jefferson ride is this coming Sunday and I'm just a bit apprehensive about it because there will be some prizes on the line this year. If I'm lucky, a 5-person group will split off the front early and things in the second group will quickly settle down to normal, which for this ride is usually still a little bit sketchy. Anyway, I won't be going for any podium places for sure. Later this month the GCBC is doing a little 72 mile ride out of Waveland that happens to fall the weekend before my birthday, so I went ahead and signed up for it since it's a chance to do a 72 mile ride on, almost, my 72nd birthday, which of course one has to do. It's a rule.

Turkey Season

The past week has been rather chilly and occasionally very windy, which is par for the course this time of year. Of course this taste of winter won't last. It's much too early for that. It did, however, make for a few rather uncomfortable morning rides. 

Wednesday morning I headed out straight into a gusty northwest wind knowing full well that there would probably be no regular WeMoRi. I went all the way out to Lakeshore Drive, mainly to see just how bad it was. As I'd imagined, the waves were crashing over the seawall in places, leaving the roadway wet and, in a few spots, flooded. I made a short video before turning back south onto Marconi to see if I could find anyone else. Eventually I did run into Charles, and we rode a lap around City Park before calling it a day. Thursday morning wasn't much better. By then the temperature had dropped a few more degrees, but the wind was still around 20 mph out on Lakeshore Drive. A few of us did show up for the 6 am ride, but the consensus, quickly reached, was to just ride some laps mostly around City Park, with just the eastbound section of Lakeshore Drive between Marconi and Wisner (since that was partly tailwind). We did about four laps, so at least total mileage was comparable to a normal Thursday. It was the first morning I pulled on the arm-warmers this fall.

Friday morning was much improved as far as the wind was concerned, but it was still in the low 50s when I left home. Friendly Friday was pretty normal, and as has become my habit lately I then rode down to the river with Charles to meet the Tulane coffee ride. It was also Halloween, so of course there were costumes.

As usual, Halloween night on Neron Place was very busy. For an hour or so the street was packed with kids in costume. Our neighbors were showing kids' movies in front of their house, and people were stopping by for food and drinks as we took turns sliding candy down the "candy chute," which is great because it keeps me from worrying about the little kids negotiating our front stairs while wearing costumes.

By Saturday I knew we'd be doing a 70 mile ride from Bay St. Louis on Sunday. It was still pretty cold before sunrise as I sat outside Starbucks sipping my coffee and wondering who would show up. As it turned out, a good amount of horsepower was on hand by the time we rolled out onto Harrison Avenue, and I was already contemplating how I would avoid inflicting too much damage on myself considering the following day's plan. Despite the east wind, the group that included Connor, Jaden, et. al. averaged around 27 mph all the way out to Paris Road. Coming around that turn at the back, I sprinted a bit to close the gap and thought to myself, "this is NOT going to slow down." At that point I made the strategic decision to back off and make my way out to the east at a more civilized pace. In retrospect, I should have stayed with them until Chef Highway because I  hate being solo on that stretch of interstage. Anyway, that worked out fine, and I turned around to get back into the group a mile or so before the turnaround. After that, I was fine with the speed, so no regrets there.

Sunday morning was the switch from DST to CST, but of course it was still dark at 5:15 when we met up at Tulane Cycling HQ to load up cars for the hour-long drive to War Memorial Park in Bay St. Louis. It was pretty chilly, but the sky was clear and by our 7:30 am start time it was warm enough (for me) to wear just a base layer shirt and arm-warmers and long-finger gloves. I was still chilly for the first hour or so, but knew it would warm up, which of course it did. I had gotten a third thru-axle adaptor for the roof rack, so the Cervelo was on the roof along with two of the team Specialized bikes. I will say that loading bikes onto the roof with thru-axles is infinitely more difficult than quick-releases ever were, which should be a surprise to nobody. There's a reason they don't call them "Quick-axles."

So we had I guess a dozen for this 70-miler on a super nice Sunday morning. A few would be splitting off early to do a shorter 50-mile loop. The pace was, relatively speaking, pretty controlled for this one with an average speed right at 20 mph and a max of 37. Although we didn't have a crash like last time, we did kind of accidentally abandon one rider at the store stop about 45 miles into the ride. When we headed out from the store everyone was on his or her bike, so nobody was looking back. One rider, however, quickly discovered that his rear derailleur cable had snapped - typical Shimano break inside the shifter. We were probably two or three miles down the road before somone's phone rang and we learned that he was still back at the store, so a few of us turned back, finally finding  him riding in our direction, stuck in the biggest gear on the bike. We stopped and adjusted the limit screw to at least get him onto the third cog, which put him in a gear that was a little high for the terrain but manageable. In fact, he sat on the front after that for a couple of miles, so it must not have been too bad. Somehwere along the way we saw a bunch of roadside turkeys, approps for the first day of November, I guess.

After everyone arrived back at the cars, we decided to have lunch at a semi-permanent food truck (Sea Level) at the marina basically across the street. That actually turned out to be surprisingly nice. It was probably close to 3 pm by the time I got home.

So I am slowly getting the new Cervelo Soloist sorted out more or less to my liking. I've ridden a bit over 1,000 miles on it so far. Saturday evening I moved the saddle about half a centimeter farther forward and angled it down around 1-2°, which worked out quite nicely. I think I'd been sitting more toward the tip of the saddle. Sliding it forward and lowering the nose put me in a better and more comfortable spot and effectively lowered the height just a touch, which I think it needed.  Yesterday I got a pair of regular, non-tubeless, Continental 5000 tires (235 g each) and replaced the significantly heavier Vittoria Corsa N.EXT TLR tires (330 g each) that had been on there. At the same time I put a latex tube in the rear and a lightweight butyl tube in the front (what I had on hand) to replace the larger, heavier ones that the bike came with. I think I could feel the difference this morning. Although both tires were 28s, the Continentals don't look quite a wide on the bike, and just feel a little less sluggish, so despite the cost, I think it was a good move for me. If I decide to try going tubeless, I'll have a set of tires on hand for that, but don't hold your breath on that one. 

This morning as I was riding out to meet the Tuesday morning ride, I dropped the chain shifting from the small ring to the large one, so immediately coasted to a stop so I wouldn't gouge up the carbon frame. I can't remember the last time I dropped a chain like that, and it had never happened before on the Cervelo. The bike didn't come with a chain-catcher, and coincidentially I had just ordered one from K-edge using the Tulane club discount, which basically covered the shipping cost. I'll get that installed as soon as I get it. One thing about electronic shifting is that you can't ease the chain over from one ring to the other like you can with mechanical. 

So the only outstanding thing with the bike for now is the question of stem length. I feel perfectly comfortable when on the hoods, probably because they are at least a couple centimeters longer than the mechanical ones on the Bianchi. It's a little cramped on the drops, but really not bad, so I may keep things as they are for a while and see how it goes.  The Cervelo uses the same seat tube angle across all of the frame sizes, so for the smaller sizes the actual virtual top tube is a bit longer than normal, which places the top of the seat tube a little farther back. You therefore have to pay more attention to the front center measurement instead of the virtual top tube measurement (and handlebar reach) when it comes to stem length, after adjusting the horizontal seat position to have the correct setback relative to the bottom bracket. Basically, you can't just blindly carry over many of your measurements from a different bike. It's interesting how handlebar reach and drop, and often stem length as well, have changed over the years as we went from the old brake levers that barely had room for half your hand, to indexed shifters that were significantly longer, to hydraulic brake/shifters that are even longer still.