Ride Report and Odd Ramblings

Sunday was my favorite ride yet, a repeat of the Sudbury/Wayland loop. We didn’t have as many people as last week, but the pace was spot on, so all of us rode together with the only exception being the occasional king of the “mountain” ego race. This loop has only the smallest of hills but that’s enough to stroke this guy’s ego. The sun was out in full force, a growing and welcomed trend. Does anyone remember last year when the weekends brought rain and the sun shined brilliantly from 9-6 on the weekdays? I do. I prefer this year’s pattern.

We met at the Seven parking lot and waited for the group to gather. I snapped this picture of my bike while we waited:



Two things came to mind, three really, nope four:
1: Why has no one told me my bars are rotated way too high? It’s possible the angle of the picture makes it look worse, but this was unsettling nonetheless. I’ll be addressing the matter before this week’s ride. However, in the future please let me know when such atrocities present themselves.
2: I think it’s time to cut off the extra 1 cm of steerer tube I have above the stem. I just don’t see myself raising the stem 1 cm in the next ten years, so why have it there looking like a chin rest?
3: I haven’t done a review of our new titanium seat post yet! I will soon, with detailed pictures to boot.
4: Pet peeves are not a big thing in my life. I’m pretty laid back and I just don’t get annoyed by that many things. A good example of a pet peeve of mine is when someone leaves you a voicemail and says, “Hey Karl, I have a question I need to ask you, so give me a call back when you can.” What is the question? What’s the draw back to asking me the question over voice mail? Time to think about it if not researching an answer? ASK the question. Ask the question, just get it out in the open, you’ll feel better. So as you can see, while I don’t have many pet peeves, I do get pretty fired up over them. Another pet peeve is white athletic socks. Don’t get me started. Look at the Fab Five.



Could they look more mint? Nope. Black socks is always the right choice, at least if they are going to be seen. Where am I going with all of this? Well, a growing pet peeve of mine is the silver braking surface on bike rims. Look at the picture of my bike. Outside of the hideous saddle bag, and the aforementioned handlebar issue, it’s the silver braking surface that jumps out at me. Yuck. This isn’t a knock on my wheels, (I love the wheels) it’s just something that wheel manufacturer’s need to figure out.



If the braking surface was gray or black, I wouldn't be looking for carbon wheels.

I think when I was working at the North Haven Bike Shop while in high school, Mavic made a pair gray rims, they were way ahead of their time. What happened to them? Outside of carbon wheels, there is no other option. I suppose it must have something to do with the brake pads wearing through any anodized colors. I lose sleep over this. Maybe it’s time for some carbon wheels after all. Even for me it’s hard to believe that these are the things I worry about. On the bright side, at least I don’t have to worry about bike fit and performance, that part is dialed.

Back to the ride report.

The streak of having one new rider per ride was extended another week as Matt Sutton, no relation to Ian Sutton, joined for the first time. This brings me to some bad news, I did the worst job yet of taking pictures. At the end of the ride I downloaded the shots, all twelve of them, and I got one shot of Matt’s backside, he’s the one with the banana in his pocket, I’ll leave the jokes up to you:



And in this video, he’s leading the pack:



If you turn up the volume you might get a laugh out of it. Let the record show that Neil finally remembered that we are in fact supposed to turn right at this particular intersection.

Riding past Hanscom Air Force Base we were pedaling into a heavy head wind. I could ride up a day long hill with a smile, but five minutes in a head wind and I struggle and get grumpy. It was about this time when Rob Vandermark sailed past, which got me to thinking. I wonder if when an employee gets a Seven, and Rob is reviewing specs, if he makes changes to the design that he knows will make me, say, struggle in a headwind. I doubt he would do this to the general public, but I could see him doing it to me and maybe Joe or Neil. A little payback for all of our wise cracks during the work week courtesy of the master. These are the things I think about in a head wind.

We followed the Battle Road back to Lexington, then rode up past Wilson Farms.

Another quick aside. If you are like me and are searching for the world’s finest glass of chocolate milk, look no further than Wilson Farm’s. I think it’s actually produced by Shaw’s Farms but it’s sold at Wilson’s and it has ended my search. I now search for the second best chocolate milk.

Up we went, cresting at the Belmont Country Club. Then down, down, down into Waverly Square where we all went our separate ways. All in all, a great ride.

This Sunday we’ll meet again in the lot and plan to leave at 8:30 on the dot. We’d love to have you there.