Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Jan 13-15 - ok, ok, I know

Yes, yes, I know that I'm behind.  Blame it on the 200k & 300k.

It's true though.  Hamid and I headed to Tavares early on the 12th for a 7am start to a 200k.  That ride headed mostly south to the hills of Clermont, more south to Polk City, and then back.  It hit all the usual high and flat spots.  It was a fairly cool start and by the end, I was cold.  The temperature started dropping even more mid afternoon so that by 4:30, my finish, I was chilled through and through.  Paul had a very good turnout for this ride, 60+ people, and no DNF's.  The wind was from the north, which helped us on the outbound, but not the inbound.  I finished in the middle of the field; Hamid finished a good 1.5 hours ahead of me.  He was on a mission to get back and drink Scotch :).

Sandy and Shab came over and after Hamid and I ate some of Paul's pulled pork (excellent) we went to the Mellow Mushroom for dinner.  It was a disappointment.  Thick soggy pizza crust, cold soup and to top it off, Shab wasn't feeling well.  Paul had suggested the MM for dinner to me a few times so I thought that it might be a good place to try ...but I won't be back.

I'd been lazy the night before and had not setup my car for two bikes so we drove two cars to Tavares.  Sandy and Shab took two cars back, leaving Hamid and me with the X5.

The next day's ride, the 300k, started at 6am. I was appropriately dressed except that I'd brought the wrong full fingered gloves.  You'd think that I would know by now.  Shoe covers, yes; multiple layers, yes; warm gloves, no.  My hands were so cold.  Most of the time I was riding with fists in those silly gloves.  They ached.  After maybe three hours, the aching started going away and at some point I swapped jackets and gloves -- heavy jacket for light jacket; full fingered for normal.  I believe that this would be the first Florida ride ever where I wore my leg warmers for the entire ride.  I also had the long sleeved Randonneurs Ontario wool jersey, another long sleeved jersey and the lightweight windbreaker that was alternately zipped up, partially zipped and flapping in the wind.

This 300k ride went north to Seville, more north and east to Bunnell, east to Flagler Beach, south to Ormond Beach, back north to Flagler Beach, back to Seville and then home.  Hamid and I rode together most of the day and finished up in 14:07.  There were a few ahead of us, two of whom were on 'bents.  The wind was amazing, blowing like a banshee from the north.  We flew down the beach from Flagler to Ormond and battled our way back north 12 miles before we thankfully turned south and west, working our way back to Tavares.  By that time the wind started easing but it was still mostly in our favor.

Shab hadn't been feeling well Saturday night and was even worse on Sunday.  She slept a lot of the day and when they left for home on Monday a.m. she was really under the weather.  I talked to Hamid late yesterday and he was hoping that she would start recovering today, but he was flying back to Maryland. 

Shab and Sandy had done a little house hunting in the area on Saturday but there was no way that they were going out again on Sunday.  They (Hamid and Shab) are thinking of relocating to north Florida.  Sandy is now coming down with something (great, my turn is next !).  It's not from Shab ... this has been hovering in the background for a while.

I did some bike maintenance yesterday, should probably do some more.   I'll do a little more riding with these tires (the 32's from Oz), the bottom bracket, the rear derailleur etc.  I'm due for chainring replacement before the next 1200k, probably, and will change a bunch of stuff at the same time.  I could also tweak the wheel truing, but it's pretty close, could simply be a little pulling due to the tires, would have to deflate and see if it changes much.  Oh yes, I should also replace the brake pads ... and the shift cables (preventative) ...

Onward !

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