T minus 43

March is over and I hope the heavy rains are too. We had record amounts of rainfall here in the Pacific NW along with colder than normal temps, so getting in 1277 miles for the month felt pretty good. I am riding 60's now, and feeling strong.
I took my Litespeed in to my favorite mechanic, who is both thorough and meticulous. I had debated...could've probably recabled the bike myself, and changing out cassettes and chains has never been an issue. But there was this funny "flex" in the headset...I actually got off the bike the last time I rode it to see if there was a crack in the frame. Nope...it all looked good. Come to find out, the headset had sheared apart where the bearings are...it simply got tired and wore out. Anyway...I don't do headsets, or bottom brackets, or wheels. And I needed all of those things serviced. He went completely through the bike...new middle chainring, new bar tape, new wheel bearings in trued wheels, new pulleys on the rear dérailleur, and of course...a new headset...smooth.as.silk. It's a beautiful thing. I would tell you that my average has picked up a couple of miles per hour, but then you might start expecting speed out of me and we have already had that conversation.
I have started printing out the detailed maps that will be carried in a folder for whomever is driving the truck. There are usually 4-6 pages of route, and I have written the cue sheets for the day on the page itself. I have also penned the directions to our overnight stop on the back of the last page. It has been time consuming, and I hope our routes do not change too much from here on out, because if they do, then I will, of course, have to redo the cue sheet. These maps should make it easy for everyone who is riding. It will be their responsibility to copy the cue sheet directions for the sections that they want to ride, or make photocopies of the sheets. The map sheets are placed in a plastic sleeve and put into a 3-ring binder that will hold all 50 states...when we finish a particular state, the sheets will go into a folder called "Been There-Done That".
I also had some little business cards made. It just seemed easier to me than trying to tell someone what the address of this blog was...I was happy with how they turned out...the fellow who printed them did a good job.




Some bikin' buddies and I just made a trip to Central Oregon to scope out routes for a group ride I do every August. It is a week-long trip with rides of 30-50 miles each day, followed by wonderful times of food and fellowship with 20 or so of the finest people I know. Laura, Liz and I stayed with some dear friends in Sisters and got in a fair amount of riding...170 miles in 4 days with over 9,000' of elevation gain. If you talk to Laura or Liz, ask them about their ice biking experience. ;)
maybe you can't...because you won't...