Out on the bike.

I had hoped to go riding both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend but I couldn't make that happen. Genine's family is going to be here Thursday, so it's time to reclaim some living space in our house. We've kind of been living in this construction zone since September. I wish I could say we are putting everything back together because the project is finally done but it's not. In fact, I think we have even more stuff to do once they leave than we had before they started. That's not to say there haven’t been major changes. It will be nice when it's done. I just can't guess when that will be.
Moving on to the Sunday bike ride. I swapped out my trainer wheel and was expecting to have to spend some time dialing in my rear derailleur. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I didn't have to change a thing. The new chain fixed all the shifting troubles I was having last year. It was really nice to have really tight shifting again.
When I was running with Todd on Saturday he offered me his Hed 3 race wheels for race weeks. Last year when I tried them out, I couldn't tune in the shifting (probably because of the bad chain). Also the braking was not familiar to me. I might have to change brake pads if I were to use them? The main reason I didn't use them was that they are tubulars and I have no experience with them. So if I flat in a race I'd be a DNF. I feel I’d have to do some tubular homework to feel confident using them on race day.

Back to the bike ride, 26.5 miles of non-bike trainer bliss! This was the first outdoor ride with the new chain, bike pedals, cleats, saddle, and bike fit.

Chain: have I mentioned super tight shifting? It's so nice not to have your chain jumping during a climb.

Pedals: didn’t have much of an issue with clipping in/out. I guess once you’ve used one system, they all are similar enough that it’s not that tough to switch.

Cleats, shoes: My right foot still doesn’t feel like it’s in the right spot yet. It doesn’t seem to cause any pain or anything (of course 26.5 miles is my longest ride this year), so I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it yet.

Saddle: It’s much more comfortable out on the road than on the trainer. I’m going to give it some outdoor time before deciding to give it a slight forward tilt.

Bike fit: I’m definitely pleased with the aerobar position. It feels very natural, that was not the case before. The armrests didn’t cause any problems for my knees during climbs but we didn’t really climb anything big. They did make being in the drops feel less aero. It feels that it keeps my arms wide. I’m also curious how long I can be comfortable in the drops. That’s where I tend to be on descents, so I’ll need to make sure I can deal with it.

I didn’t push hard on the bike but what was surprising is how much energy I had after the bike. I really wanted to go running. It was odd. I felt like that the rest of the evening. I think I know why. I’ve been calorie restricted for quite a few weeks now and this weekend I ate too many calories. Thus I had plenty of energy. I didn’t go running. I ended up doing a bunch of core work instead while watching the Oscars. Stayed up too late and decided not to swim Monday morning. Then spent most of Monday wanting to go running. (It’s not run day) It's yoga day. Yoga rocks. Even tho' I don't think it thinks the same about me.