Windy 1/2 Century & New Shop

This morning I got up early with the plan of leaving and getting in a 50 mile ride before taking a couple days off to take care of my wife. I didn't leave as early as planned cause it was a bit colder than I expected so I wanted to give it some time to warm up. It was nice to be able to hang with the kids, eat and drink some coffee before going.

When I left I had a couple of route's planned but my main concern was to make sure I was going into the wind first. When I left I looked at the flags as usual and saw that the wind was blowing out of the west so I took my Sunday morning road route out to and around Branched Oak Lake and back. As I turned to head west I was smacked in the face with a 25-30 mph headwind. The temps were in the low 30's and then with the wind my face was super cold and the 4.5 miles before I turned north were brutal. Of course the wind was kind of blowing out northwest so I was still getting a good cross/headwind the whole way to the lake. On the first half of the ride I only went either north or west so it was pretty killer. On a couple of the downhills when I was going west the wind would gust so hard I would have to pedal or I would almost stop.

When I finally got to the point where I turned around the corner of the lake to head east it felt awesome. It was nice to be able to put it in the big ring again where I had had it in the small ring almost the whole way out which never happens. When I got to the other side of the lake I got hit with a huge crosswind ripping off the lake. I have never been in such a strong killing wind like that before. I never knew a crosswind could hurt so much.

The rest of the way home was pretty good and my legs felt pretty good as I finished the ride back to the house. I did start to have some pain in my knees and hips as I was finishing up and after I was off the bike for a while. I think that I still need to make some adjustments to my shoes and saddle position. I did finish this ride a lot faster than I did in January the last time that I rode it. I'm not sure if it's the bike or me but I'm sure the bike helps. The BMC is a night and day difference from my portofino.

After I got home and cleaned up I needed to head to the shop to pick up a new set of MTB handlebars and some new bottle cages for the MTB also. I took the kids with me and they always like to go to the shop. After we finished at the shop we went to check out the new shop that opened today. The new shop is a lot different than the first shop. Much bigger and a much more "pro" look. They didn't have a bad day there with a soft opening. Had some customers in and even sold a bike. We are going to do a big grand opening in May. I've already been assigned the job of taking care of the food. Should be fun. I'm going to get some pics of the new place when I remember to take my camera out there.

I have changed my torture chamber or training room around now that it is nice enough to train outside I'm using the space to store and work on my bikes. Not that I can do that much to them but I can do some regular maintenance. One of my goals this year is when I have down time at the shop is to pay more attention and learn more about wrenching on bikes. Here's a few quick pics of my space:

extra bike storage

place to hang wheels

work stand

Now I need to go get some sleep. My wife has to be at the hospital at 5:20am and her surgery starts at 7:00. If all goes well we should be back home no later than 5pm. Later.

Harp