Winfall of PBs

I've been rewriting my personal record book left and right the last week. Last Sunday I did all but the warm-up part of my ride at LT, Tuesday I rode hard, but still had enough left in the tank to set a new PB between Hazel and Sunrise racing, and dropping, a 2-man team on TT bikes.

Yesterday I set a new PB going upstream on that same stretch chasing a pair of strong riders, and later shattered my personal best on the Beal's climb - taking almost an entire minute out of my time while dropping a good, strong, kite in the process.

I could point to a lot of factors to account for this, but I think the obvious one is just putting in more miles. For some reason, I'm also eating a LOT less ride fuel on these rides - typically less than a half a PowerBar and one bottle of Gatorade. I'm eating sushi rice before and potato after, but my appetite in general has dropped off, and at a time of year when it's usually on the increase. I have also lost 3-5 lbs in the last 3 weeks. All good things.

My quads were pretty sore today after all of the hammering yesterday, mostly from chasing down faster riders and red-lining for long stretches, but I should be good to go tomorrow or Sunday, depending on weather.

I'm not crazy about the new gear ratios (although I LOVE the smooth, fast shifts), and my new Easton E70 Zero seat post keeps slipping down, but at least the lower seat position spared my calves last night. I clamped the Profile Designs seat post mounted water bottle rack tightly about 3mm up from the seat post clamp, and they were touching after my ride last night. I might also try carbon paste, a double clamp, or even some kind of glue! :-O

The 52/39 gearing paired with the 12-23 out back makes for awkward shifts when approaching hills. I might try mounting the stock (total crap quality) 12-25 in back and see if that helps. It just seems very difficult to land on the gear I want when shifting through tight rollers, which we have a lot of coming back from Folsom on the east side of Lake Natoma.

Issac told me about a novel fix for the seatpost - toothpaste. I found some with silica and am giving it a try, wiping some on the seat post under the clamp area. If that doesn't work I might try some rouge cloth facing inward to engage the seat post. I don't want to scuff up the inside of the seat tube on the frame.

So, after a rest week, and a sub-par one last week due to interviews and matters attendant with the sale of a car, I've been hard at it and very happy with the results. I'm looking forward to riding in fall weather.

Cheers!