Maiden Voyage

Well, it took my entire f*&!ing Saturday, but Freddy Fender is finally ready to roll. Fully dressed, with bulletproof 550 gram 700x28 Conti Contact tires, the completed beast weighs in at just under 25 pounds. Setup for commuting with lights and full water bottles, I know I can get it up over 30. Perfect. Messing with the stupid top tube cable routing and triple front derailleur added quite a bit of time to the build, as did the numerous nourishment breaks. So Saturday I didn't get a ride or run in at all, but since the bike room is on the second floor, the kitchen is on the first, and the roll-away tool box is in the basement, at least I got in about a hundred flights of stair climbing. That's good, because all told six waffles, six biscottis, three bowls of Nature Valley Power Breakfast, some yogurt, a banana, and an apple gave their lives to this effort. At 7:30 pm, when the bars were finally taped and the cages installed, I threw in the towel and called it a day without climbing on the trainer. I just Forman'd a couple of burgers and an onion, cooked up a sweet potato, and retired for the night.

Originally I'd planned on three hours Saturday and at least two more on Sunday, with a run thrown in too. Since the weather sucked on Saturday, I'd have been confined to indoor workouts anyway, but with the sun shining on Sunday morning, it was make up time. Stepping out to dump the trash though, it was freezing! The wind was biting. Fuck. I had to do it though. There was still too much snow to run in the woods, and according to the online weather, it was above freezing outside, but with the wind it sure did not feel like it. But prepare to ride I did.

Now if you're expecting a Gewilli-esque tale of how I retraced the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, continuing on across the frozen Yukon territory wearing nothing but a loincloth, open-toed sandals, and an Ibex beanie, well, you're going to be disappointed. I mean, what is the point of owning three of everything in the Verge inventory if I'm not going to wear it? I went with wool Craft XC kneesocks, a pair of lycra Descente tights with chamois (these are too old to race juniors), Ibex wool tights over those, an SS base layer, an LS base layer, an LS Verge middleweight jersey, topped with a windvest under the Warsaw jacket, which is a combo I've found to be simply awesome for temp regulation. On the hooves I wore my old Carnac MTB shoes and of course booties. Up top I went with the headsweats skull cap, full baclava, and earmuffs on the helmet straps. For the hands, on top of my Ibex wool glove liners went the heavy artillery - The Pearl Lobster gloves. I'm ready. So was the new bike.

Standing up and accelerating out of the driveway, I could tell within a few pedal strokes that I was going to like this bike. When I sat down though, the seat felt a tad high, but instead of stopping to adjust it, I said the hell with it, keep riding. After all, it would have taken me ten minutes to get undressed enough to retrieve the multi tool. Besides that, NegaCoach is a strong believer in muscle confusion theory, especially at this stage of the season. However, not lowering the seat would prove to be a mistake.

The ride was pretty blissful, blasting through the snow melt without a care as the full fenders contained the wheel spray. I kept heading into the wind, basically northwest, even though the roadside snow amounts got bigger the further I went. Heading southeast probably would have brought completely dry roads, but then I'd have had to come home against the friggin' gale. Besides, I had fenders, woo-hoo! I rode most of the Foxboro run course backwards, then loop up through Walpole, pausing briefly to give directions to an upstanding young lady who was trying to make it to the state prison before visting hours ended. Really nice girl...

By two hours my hamstrings were starting to feel the saddle height problem. By 2.5 they were really feeling it, and the glycogen stores from yesterday's massive carb intake had pretty much been depleted, so I headed to Ward's Berry Farm in Sharon for a coffee, delicious homemade half moon, and saddle adjustment, topping off the bottles as well. The bike had been working perfectly, except for an occasional skip in the 30x21, probably either a tight link or a B-tension adjustment. Other than that, no worries, even with my "custom" saddle.

Do you hardcore CX riders miss the old blue plastic Cinelli BMX saddles that everyone used to run? If so, check out my creation. Got an old Flite with a torn cover? Tear the whole thing off down to the base and voila, you have the ultimate in weather proof lightweight saddles. Think it's uncomfortable? Really, it's not too bad. While it may be true that I've been called a hardass before, I didn't start feeling it until 3.5 hours, and I haven't been riding long at all this winter either. I still may replace it though, but for cross, it will be perfect.

I even thought about staying out for five hours to make up the lost ride from Saturday, but a combination of plummeting temps, the dangerous afternoon solar glare, my hamstrings, and the firm saddle made me think better of it. After refueling I headed over to Moose Hill for some repeats on the mini-circuit to give myself a bit of intensity before pedaling home. I ended up right at four hours, only about 60 miles, but on this bike there won't be too many 35 kph averages. Thanks for reading.