Chuck wasn't there, Jeff wasn't there, so I had little reason to go fast. Except Roger showed up, and we booked-it out of Vienna to Hunter Mill Rd., where he turned up Hunter Station and I kept going on the W&OD, kicking serious ass all the way out to SSS (at one point, I was tailed by a guy wearing an "Ireland" jersey--he was heading home to Ashburn).
Then I stopped at SSS and turned around. It was very slow going on the way back, dropping to 15mph in many places, and feeling extremely strenuous. I was bewildered--usually, I'm flying through these parts at 18, 19mph. How is today any different?
I got my answer almost immediately when I was nearly thrown sidewards by a wicked cross- and head-wind. Turns out that, heading West, I had a huge tailwind that I hadn't noticed at all. Well, going back, it became a headwind that dropped my average speed from 20mph down to 17mph.
Ugh.
I joined up with Robert, and we rode back together, me pulling him through Reston and Vienna. When we got back, we met up with Ruma (who thought the ride was supposed to start at 6:30 for some reason--it's always started at 6:00) and Greg, and then we went to dinner at Tequila Grande.
Statistics:
Bike: Trek 5200
Distance: 28.37mi
Saddle Time: 1h38m19s
Actual Time: 1h45m
Start Time: 6:05PM
End Time: 7:55PM
Start Outside Temp: warm
End Outside Temp: cool
Max Speed: 32.9mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 17.3mph
Avg Speed (actual): 16.2mph
I also moved the seat down a few millimeters (after moving it up nearly 7mm on Tuesday), and it felt just right. I won't be riding the 5200 in Tahoe (the 1500 is only a pound or two heavier, and has a triple crankset for hills), but it's nice to have two properly-adjusted bikes at my disposal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment