The S-Works

This is a post is all about the S-Works.

This bike gets a lot of attention. It is to other cyclists as a baby or small puppy is to girls. Everywhere I go, people ask me about it. The bike shop. The office. When its on my car, I get nods in traffic. When I'm on the road, people either want to tell me how beautiful it is, or they want to race me.

Having this bike is like having a trophy wife. Very expensive to maintain, hard to satisfy, and all anyone ever wants to talk about.

It only has one speed: fast.

I've only ever seen two others on the road. One as I was passing it, and one as it was passing me.

If I want to just "go for a cruise" I have to feign sickness or injury. Because if people see me going 16 with a bike like that, there needs to be a good reason.

Is it very expensive? Yes. But I drive an 8-year-old Honda Civic with 110,000 miles and yellow headlamps. And yes, my priorities are straight. It's just too bad I can't take my girlfriend to the movies on my bicycle.

It is the best training tool I have. Because in a group ride, I will go an extra 10% just to make sure others feel I'm worthy of having it. Hard-core racers love nothing else than ripping your carbon-whatever apart on a ten-year-old Peugeot. But here's a little secret: In ten years, my S-Works is going to be the equivalent of that Peugeot.

And like the bike, I plan on my body getting better with age.

I feel like one of those crazy, lucky people that, back in 1970, decided to go for the Hemi upgrade on their lime green Barricuda.

But unlike a classic muscle car, I plan on putting as many miles on it possible.

Stick a fork in me

Sorry for the late post, but it's been a pretty action-packed weekend. I took my bike down to the O.C. for the weekend, and finally, after so much anticipation, got to do a flat, uniteruppted ride on nicely paved roads. I went north from Newport Beach, determined that all of my recent climbing and speeding would have made me super fast on the flats. I was not dissapointed. I did 40 miles solo, whith a consistent 21-22 speed. the front twenty was pretty tame, but the back twenty I had a bit of company. These were the first unfriendly riders I have come across in So Cal, and they were straight out of the "I'm a mean bike racer" textbook. Two guys, obscure local team kits, booties, and mishmash bikes with carbone wheels. They thought they were pretty bad going down the road at 25, and one of them decides he's going to burn the other one and goes ahead at 26-7. I see a nice stretch of road in front of us and say "what the heck". I burn him and take the lead. I'm riding steady at 29 for what seems to be a while. I feel the guy behind me and push it up to 30... to 31... 31.5... no response. We hit a red light. No ackwoledgment whatsoever. The two guys decide they are going to go up on the sidewalk and go right. See ya.

Then, I meet up with another guy, and ride with him for the last 10 miles or so. Consistent 25-26. We run into another guy who looks like a running back, big guy on a bike, he starts challenging us. I burn him and the other guy on a not-so-tall bridge and the subsequent kinda painful hill up into Newport.

I finish it all off with a 10 mile recovery ride with my folks, who were both sporting the Trek 7000, from the "Bike Path" Series, basically the Dodge Pinto of bicycles. They are in sweats, I'm in full gear, going 10 mph. Got some funny looks, but you can't argue with a ride with mom. Especially when you get to push her uphill.

I think I'll be recovering this week. I'm walking slower and slower, there is a constant burn in my muscles, and I'm starting to think seriously about lobbying for naptime at work. I think it's time for a little rest and a massage. Good luck, team Z, with your rest week as well...

Relax those eyelids

Mandeville this week went a little better than last week. I made it halfway up this time before getting dropped, and then had a bit of an easier time keeping pace. On the second trip up, I had a good group of four that took turns pulling up the mountain. My heartreate was a lot better, and halfway up I felt pretty good. I remembered something from a book or a movie (can't remember which) where the advice was to try to relax your eyelids. This is, of course, ridiculous, but in the course of concentrating on doing this, you end up completely forgetting about the fact that you are riding up a mountain. So I was very strong right up unitl the last 200 meters, where the road gets insanely steep, and I fell off the pace.

Overall, I was very happy with my second week riding with LaGrange. The test will be when I get on the flat roads by myself. I'd like to see what I've gained in the past two months. What sort of speeds can I expect and at what HR and for how long. Only then will I know where I truly stand. Hopefully this weekend I will take the bike down to the OC and get it out on the open, nicely-paved roads and open 'er up...