One Centimeter and 3,500 Feet. Or, Its the Little Things That Count

The only real sustained road climb around Santa Fe that rivals (or in this case, greatly exceeds) the old Ski Hill/Camp May Road climb or the Rt. 4 climb up into the Jemez Mts in Los Alamos is the Hyde Park Road, aka Santa Fe Ski Basin climb, which goes from 7000 to 10,300 feet over about fifteen miles. I rode the Hyde Park climb several times over the last couple years but for some reason, this season, every time I attempted it I ended up with lower back spasms as I got up onto the steep pitches halfway up. You know, where the downhill section says "use low gear".

So this morning, once again preparing for what has become an ordeal instead of a challenge, I said "I better check my bike ergonomics". Sure enough, the black Cannondale CAAD5, which has my Geezer Climbing Gears on it, had the distance between the crank spindle and the upper surface of the seat, measured along the seat tube, about a centimeter longer than measured on the Six-Thirteen. Hmm, as I don't think there is a measurable difference between the geometry of the two frames. I wondered if that caused me to rock my hips and strain the muscles. So I pulled out the allen wrenches and adjusted the seat down almost a cm, filled the water bottles with Gatorade solution, and off I went up the Big Hill.

Voilà. All the way to the top without lower back pain. Just every other kind of pain.  Sometimes its the little stuff that counts. I wish the rest of life was that easy to fix. And, no, I have no idea how I got the bike ergonomics so buggered up.

Of course the little stuff counts in both directions. About a mile down on the return trip, I was descending fast into a sharp left curve and suddenly the bike seemed to want to turn in too much. Looking down, I saw the front tire rapidly going flat. Fortunately, I had enough air to finish the curve without a faceplant and do a controlled panic stop and fix it. Sheesh.That was nearly a change-the-bike-shorts moment.

Take that, you big old hill!
View down at The World from Vista Grande Overlook
That's a 34x32 low gear.

Never underestimate the value of a tape measure
Not to mention, using same.
Jersey courtesy of Maddogmedia.com