alex chiang: web 6.0

Veloswap was yesterday and I scored some major deals on bike parts. It was nothing short of amazing.

Here’s a list

• unknown brand used SPD pedals: $5
• Bontrager used set of SPD pedals: $5
• used Specialized road shoes: $10
• used long sleeve Izumi Pearl jacket/jersey: $10
• Wellgo new SPD cleat: $10
• DeFeet new arm warmers: $5
• new Buff (headwear): $5
• new Shimano mtb shoes: $45

And the icing on the cake was finding a pair of used Anasazi climbing shoes (velcro) for $5.

Today, I went on a challenging bike ride with some much stronger riders. I got dropped in the first 100 yards on the 9 mile, >3500 ft. elevation gain climb, which I kinda expected, but was disheartening nonetheless. It felt hopeless, especially due to the fact that I thought I still had 5 miles to go right before I reached the top.

Surprised, I summited, and then got to bomb down the steep side of Rist canyon, hitting 56 mph. Right at the Stove Prairie turnoff, I was able to see the rest of the group up ahead, and so I hauled ass trying to link back up with the group. It took me about 4 or 5 miles, but I finally hooked back onto their train, much to both their surprise and mine.

It was a costly move, though, as I developed some pretty bad cramps which persisted for the rest of the ride. I finished off the Gatorade I had and shoved down a Clif bar and packet of Gu to no avail. Steve kindly stayed behind and watched after me, even though I told him that I wouldn’t have minded if he just wanted to stay with the others, and for that, I was truly grateful.

After today’s experience, I’ve christened my bike (Trek 7600) “Knife”, referring to one of Steve’s favorite aphorisms of “never bringing a knife to a gun fight”. Unfortunately, a new road bike just isn’t in the budget this year…

You can read Steve’s blog entry here.