Stage 1 - Crossing the Rubicon

With the threat of rain everywhere I decided to use my "rain" bike, the Colnago CT-2 (see photo) for today's ride. It's nice to have such a fine bike as a back-up.



When going for a long ride I like to head into the wind outbound so that I can take advantage of the tailwind for the return leg. Having a tailwind as your legs (and heart and lungs and head) are getting tired is a huge psychological advantage when spending long hours on a solo ride. There's nothing worse than hitting your turn-around point and finding that you've got a headwind the whole way home.

The route today took me through Slinger (the home of Little Switzerland ski area as well as Slinger Speedway, home of the World's Fastest High Banked Quarter Mile), west though a place called Rubicon that I had never heard of before and then to the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis of Hustisford. Most of the ride was on an empty country lane lined by oak trees. Beautiful scenery, but it forced me to ride into downtown Slinger on the way home to find fluids.

The Town of Rubicon was nothing to write home about but it made me wonder if the town was named after the river in Italy that gave rise to the saying "Crossing the Rubicon", which means passing the point of no return. See more HERE. As I rode through I was fearful that it was a bad omen and some curse was about to befall me. But other than being buzzed by a crop-dusting airplane I passed through safely.



As regular readers know, I went in for a bike fitting last week. It maybe wasn't the smartest thing to do just prior to putting in big miles. They raised my saddle by a half an inch and also pushed it forward almost as much. After a few rides it still didn't feel right and I've been tweaking the position before rides, during rides and after rides.

All of the tinkering and fooling around with positioning is proving to be a good thing. Once I get a bike set-up I tend to forget about it. As things change; your body becomes less flexible or more flexible, you get stronger or weaker, or you just need to find a more powerful or comfortable position - you need to be thoughtful about making some small changes. Spending this past week with about 35 different combinations of position I think I've found what works. I lowered the seat 1/8th inch and moved it back 1/16th. I also changed the tilt of my saddle from a -4 degree position (nose down) to a -1 degree position. The change in tilt has been great. I hadn't realized how often I would push myself further back onto the seat because the slight downward tilt was causing me to slid forward ever so slightly, particularly when on rough roads. And the new, higher saddle position would just exacerbate the problem. Now I feel centered and balanced on the bike. Centered and balanced? That would be Buddha. Ohmmmmmmmm!

Todays mileage goal; 56.73. Miles ridden; 59. And it didn't rain.