Raining

After finishing Red last night, I put the fenders on the Trek anticipating the rain today and not riding the Specialized. This morning when I woke up, I was glad I had put the fenders on. As some of you may know, I have fought the idea of putting fenders on my bike. It just didn't feel right. After watching a piece on Cav riding on the Isle of Man with fenders on his bike, I was like "I can do that" so I did. Today's ride was 3 1/2 hours in the rain, wind, and cold. It wasn't too fast of a ride but it got done. I learned a few things today. Fenders really do help keep you drier and as a result, warmer. I was amazed at the water coming off the bottom of the fenders. I also learned that the cycling hat is great at keeping the rain out of the eyes. As I was riding, rain would fall between my helmet and top of my glasses. I turned my hat around like I have seen done and problem solved. I have a few components I need to transfer to the Trek to make the ride more comfortable but it was all decent. Here is a picture of me after the ride. I was soaked all the way through but happy for the chance to ride.

On Thursday, I got out in some sun and did a Rodney Harrison on Chehalem Mountain. I rode the Trek since Red was not ready. I left it in the 39 instead of going to the granny. I flew up the climb in 37 minutes, beating my previous best time by 13 minutes. I then hit a partial Baldy. Coming down the hill, the cars couldn't catch me. I was flying at over 35 MPH. The cars would start to catch up on the straights but on the curves and corners, I'd pull away. It was a fun and fast down hill.

All told, I got almost 6 hours on the bike this week. Starting next week, the hours per week go up a bit - STP is only a few months away.