Testing And Melting

A ride did not work out yesterday and I was forced to the trainer and weights for a workout... IN JUNE! Freaking thunderstorms during Prime Time Ride Time! WTF? By the time I was finished on the trainer the sun was out, it was dog ball hot and it was like it had never rained. I've said it before, I'll say it again- Ma Nature is a finicky bitch, who I truly believe is out to get me for some past crime.

But today she must have had a paper due at Bitch School or something and missed her opportunity to Velo-C*ck block me. Ha-ha! Take that! So I rolled the Salsa TiEM (in Killy Billy mode) on the back roads of my little dung heap.


Very happy with the way the bike performed. I MIGHT want to flip the stem positive for the race though. The used fork had a cut steerer tube and I had to ditch a spacer for it to work (worth the $200 savings). So the back was sort of feeling the position change, but I'm not sure I feel like continuing to f*ck with components that will be changed back ASAP. I mean the Hilly Billy Roubaix's 70 miles are going to kill me no matter what. What's a centimeter of pain here and there??


The heat was a concern today. Not to sound like that old guy at the grocery store, but it wasn't so much the heat as it was the freaking humidity. I usually don't mind humidity during rides so much, but I pumped out more sweat in 40 miles than a fat man's from-undah-belly does during a month long heat wave. The chamois was so soaked with sweat, that when I moved around on the saddle it sounded like I was sitting on a baby bird. Little squeaks and squawks every time I repositioned the old shhweaty 'taint. (sorry)

Overall the bike performed great in it's current mode. The tires, while heavy for slicks, had plenty of traction to get me up some of the shit roads, and they rolled very quick. On some of the paved flats I noticed my speed was just about 2 mph slower than my road bike, but 2 to 3 mph faster than rolling knobbies. What does all that mean? Pretty much nothing, the race on Saturday is going to be hot, long and suck for me no matter what bike or tires I use. But it should be fun!

One of the best parts of today was doing a paved climb up Smithdale Road. Parts of this road kick up at 20%! As I'm grinding up in the middle ring (since my friend D-POW says all WPA paved climbs should be done in middle ring, or face mocking and scorn) a car coming downhill slows along side of me. I of course was expecting an insult to be hurled, but instead it was a old man shouting "You've got a big job ahead of you!!" To which I think I just blurted out something about almost being to the top and how I should just tell D-POW to go to hell with the middle ring thing. Not sure he knew who D-POW, or what a middle ring was.

All in all a good test for the Hilly Billy set up. I did underestimate how freaking hot it would be at 10 a.m. and was suffering due to heat, but still a nice 40 mile ride.

Once home I did some power designing on XXC #8 for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. #8 is gonna be another good one (at least I think so). Look for it in late July.

NON BIKE RELATED (But file under Cooler Than F*ck)...

Thanks to Wifey for tipping me off on this interview with James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. Good stuff.



Later.