Plenty of Bikes

Here I am with five top of the line modern bicycles. My wife has a couple of older top of the line. A Colnago Master and a Mercian. I intend to keep my Colnago and end up selling off the Lemond (Di2), The Trek Madone and perhaps even the Trek Emonda because the Look KG588 is a climbing bike like the Emonda but quite a bit better. The ride is remarkably soft, the steering at low speeds is fast and accurate while the steering at speed is reasonably steady. Experimenting with crank lengths and handlebar widths has sort of surprised me. 172.5 cranks and 38 cm wide bars have worked a great deal better than I imagined and let and wrist pain have abated with those changes from the commonly suggested 175 and 42 for someone my size.

Now that the cold has come on, people aren't riding as much and I can't do any long rides with friends so I have to do them solo. Also they are only doing short easy rides and they don't want to put in the climbing I prefer. If I'm only going to do a 25 mile ride I would just as soon get in at least 1600 or 1700 feet of climbing. Also I want to take the Lemond since while it is the heaviest it is still just 20 lbs without the water bottle and flat kit though with the Continental 4 Seasons, there is little to no need of a flat kit. But like before, the second you leave the flat kit home you run over a wood screw that was left sitting point side up in the road.

I was intending on doing a fast 25 miler today but my legs are still a little tired from Sunday. I had to cut that ride short so After I dropped off my riding partner, I dropped the hammer and made the last 5 miles to home in 13 minutes.

So I will have to decide if I want to climb 1700 feet with a lot of 12% or a 32 mile ride with a steady 9% for a mile and a quarter. That is about 2000 feet of climbing. Decisions decisions. Unlike the lawyerly-like John who does a 1 mile ride on the flats and has to rest for 5 days worrying about his heart.