new toy!
i finally picked up my first single speed yesterday! i never thought i'd do it since i luv my gears so much but after my training ride at kensington on the 5th of this month, i realized you could climb big hills in big gears. i picked up the raleigh xxix. it's a steel frame and rigid steel fork. decently equipped and low $$. a combo that can't be beat. thanks to ernie at cycletherapy for hooking me up! btw, he's got all 3 sizes currently in stock, so stop by and check 'em out!
well, yesterday was supposed to be hill training ride #2 of 3. i was too excited to get on the ss that i headed out to pontiac lake instead. i figured 2 or 3 laps out there would be a good workout regardless. my plan was to do the first lap on the ss and then switch over to the geared bike. well, i never got on the geared bike. the first lap was so much fun, i took it back out for the second lap! it took a little while to get used to the rigid fork. i haven't ridden one of those in about 13 years. with the amount of leaves covering the trail, it made it a little tricky. hidden rocks would really jar you whereas w/ a suspension fork, you would barely even notice it. surprisingly, i made every climb on both laps! granted i was running a low gear combo but, hey, i still climbed them in a much taller gear than on my geared bike. for some reason, i think that standing on the climbs made my legs burn much less than spinning up them in a low gear. weird. i need to get stronger on the climbs so i can run a bigger gear because i was spinning my brains out on the flats and going nowhere. i don't think i could've climbed w/ a bigger gear yesterday. MAMA!
single speeding is definitely a full body workout. i can't believe how sore i am today. my upper body, especially my back and my legs. i think i'm gonna pick up some of the specialized bg grips or the ergons. my hands and wrists were really feeling it towards the end of the second lap. maybe slightly less air pressure in the front tire as well. although i don't know how much lower i want to go. i was running 28psi the first lap and then let out some more air so i'm guessing i was somewhere around 25-26psi...lower than i've ever gone before. those exiwolfs sure are plush!
so if the weather holds out sunday, i'll ride the ss and then i've taken monday off for my last training ride. that'll of course be on the niner. 9 more days til race day!
well, yesterday was supposed to be hill training ride #2 of 3. i was too excited to get on the ss that i headed out to pontiac lake instead. i figured 2 or 3 laps out there would be a good workout regardless. my plan was to do the first lap on the ss and then switch over to the geared bike. well, i never got on the geared bike. the first lap was so much fun, i took it back out for the second lap! it took a little while to get used to the rigid fork. i haven't ridden one of those in about 13 years. with the amount of leaves covering the trail, it made it a little tricky. hidden rocks would really jar you whereas w/ a suspension fork, you would barely even notice it. surprisingly, i made every climb on both laps! granted i was running a low gear combo but, hey, i still climbed them in a much taller gear than on my geared bike. for some reason, i think that standing on the climbs made my legs burn much less than spinning up them in a low gear. weird. i need to get stronger on the climbs so i can run a bigger gear because i was spinning my brains out on the flats and going nowhere. i don't think i could've climbed w/ a bigger gear yesterday. MAMA!
single speeding is definitely a full body workout. i can't believe how sore i am today. my upper body, especially my back and my legs. i think i'm gonna pick up some of the specialized bg grips or the ergons. my hands and wrists were really feeling it towards the end of the second lap. maybe slightly less air pressure in the front tire as well. although i don't know how much lower i want to go. i was running 28psi the first lap and then let out some more air so i'm guessing i was somewhere around 25-26psi...lower than i've ever gone before. those exiwolfs sure are plush!
so if the weather holds out sunday, i'll ride the ss and then i've taken monday off for my last training ride. that'll of course be on the niner. 9 more days til race day!
posted by Alden at 4:42 PM
1 Comments:
so, have you switched your Iceman entry over to SS class yet???
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