11 March 2010 - 6:43Gravel Grinder Recon

Not gonna tell you exactly where I went, but some of the ride took place on the “new” Gravel Grinder route. I can say this for sure, it is getting soupy out there! It seems to me that all this mud is happening early this year, which is a good thing. This should mean that the road conditions for the Gravel Grider on Arpril 18th will be primo. Make sure you sign up now! It is historically the driest week all year.

Wednesday was another day this week that I played the “I close at 2:30″ card.

It was 50° by the time I left the shop with the La Cruz on the roof rack. I finally got to ride the 34-32 combo, and I have to say it wasn’t exactly what I expected, but more on that later.

I wasn’t expecting company on my ride, but was glad to have some. My buddy Dr. Jones had also decided that today was a good day to play hookey and met me at my house for an afternoon of bike fun.

There was no plan. In fact, there was a lot of stopping to take pictures. This was more like a goof-off than a ride, and I was pretty OK with it. So rarely do we stop to take in the surroundings, and today was just so spectacular. Cris and I were in no hurry, and perfectly happy to soak it all in.

Still, we managed to rack up 12 miles and 1300ft of climbing on our reconnaissance ride.

Now, back to that 32 tooth cassette. It made a difference for me today. I was able to sit and spin up the climbs, despite the soft road conditions. It wasn’t mind blowingly easier, which is what I kind of hoped for, but I’m willing to wager that the mud was tarnishing my experience. And, frankly, I’m pretty tired. I didn’t have a lot of power after a hard fast single speed ride followed by a night of core training earlier this week.

But, I was pretty stoked to ride, and so that is all I took it for. A ride. What a fun concept! Riding for fun, I hope it catches on…

During all this fun, I did find out one thing. I found the general gearing to be a bit more to my liking.

Here is the difference, just for the nerds:

PG1070

12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,24,27

XX

11,12,14,16,18,20,22,25,28,32

I come from a mountain biking background, I have no idea why you would need to have a one tooth increment from one gear to the next. It seems like it doesn’t do that much, at least for me. I know that for some roadies, it makes all the difference in the world.

Today, I was all about the big cogs out back. When you can see the sky in the road, you know it’s going to be a tough going.