Another good ride this morning. No ride yesterday, as Corrie came and gave me a ride home due to the rear tire coming apart. I put on my old IRC tire last night and hopefully it will last me until Taboo gets me another WeirWolf! Hopefully that is soon, as the IRC tire is pretty cracked, which is why I replaced it in the first place. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to keep it as a spare, though.
Physically, the ride was good but mechanically it left a bit to be desired. The rear derailleur was out of adjustment (I thought I had tuned this up?), and it had trouble shifting from the 5th cog on down to the 8th. I think the cable is just a bit too tight, so I’ll see if I can line it up better this afternoon before my ride home. The front brake is noisy and rattling too. I think the pads are just barely touching the disc, and therefore they “rattle” ever so slightly, but enough to annoy me. I did find, however, that if I pulled the lever in about 1/4” max, it would stop. So maybe just that little bit of tension takes away the rattle. Still need to fix it, but I’m thinking for today, I’m just going to set my levers in a little bit.
The hill going down into Peterson’s Creek was really good. I am feeling more comfortable getting back off the saddle more lately, and this hill is really helping me in that regard. In high school, I remember dragging my butt on the rear tire, but now I just can’t seem to convince myself to do that anymore! Chicken…
I was able to keep my heart rate around 75% on average today, which was cool. That is where it is supposed to be for the best fitness results. I also noticed that after my heart rate peaks (on a hill or whatever), it drops back down pretty quick which is apparently a good sign. The climb coming up out of Peterson’s Creek again had me hovering around 95% for the last half of it again. This is the highest my heart rate gets on the morning ride, and it is only for about 5 minutes or maybe a bit more, so that’s not too bad. I did discover something kind of neat about this, and that was on Howe Road I noticed I was sitting around 60%! Hah! So, I kicked my lazy butt, shifted to a couple of gears harder, and managed to maintain a 75% the rest of the road up to Hugh Allan. So, not only is it good for seeing the maximum, but also for getting my butt in gear when I start getting lazy!
Anyways, it’s been a rather poor week for riding, as it is Thursday and I haven’t even ridden home yet, but hopefully I’ll be able to get some good and consistent riding in the rest of August! If and when I do buy another bike, I really think I need to keep this one as my “spare” for events like I’ve encountered over the last couple of weeks. That way, if my bike does go down, I can still ride to work. Oh, and on that note, the latest repairs and money I’ve had to spend on this bike maybe have a positive result… Corrie said last night “You need to just go and buy a new bike soon.” Well, if you insist…
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