Friday, December 30, 2016

137 Days and Finally a Bike Ride

Sheesh. Time moves slowly when you are in casts, braces, or otherwise immobilized. Between a broken foot and major shoulder surgery, I have been off the bike since mid-August. Well, that bit of enforced abstinence came to an official close today as I took the Stumpjumper, in Physical Therapy form, out for a short spin on wobbly legs and a wheezing cardiovascular system. The more upright position (I flipped the stem over to get a bigger rise angle), flat bars, and shocks on the Stumpjumper help me keep from putting too much stress on the recently rebuilt shoulder. The slicks make the bike feel more sprightly on the tarmac. In spite of my obviously terrible cardiovascular and physical form, it was nice.

I had to make one modification on the Stumpy from the last post. The disks on the Salsa Delgado Cross wheelset last weekend in anticipation of this ride were rubbing on the caliper pads.. Rather than messing with spacers on the calipers, I swapped the hoops out for the Speed City wheelset, which have a slightly different disk offset on the hubs for some reason. They worked fine. Last thing I needed in my present out of shape form is a drag brake. Since the Speed City set is shod with 700-28 Continental Gatorskins rather then 700-32 Panaracer Pasela Tourguards, they probably roll faster too. Right now I need all the help I can get.

As advertised, the Canyon Rim Trail was my destination from the North Mesa Estate. Nice. See you  back on the road. Finally.
DP Road crossing

New Bridge spanning DP Canyon

Bicyclist Impostor

4 comments:

JerryM said...

Will we be seeing the "Impostor" cycling to work any time soon?

Khal said...

I don't want to take a chance on a crash on ice at night so I will watch the road conditions.

GreenComotion said...

Cool beard!
Wish you a Very Healthy & Happy New Year Khal.
Peace :)

Arleigh said...

Happy to see you back on a bike!