Today there’s a Crit about 2 miles from my apartment, and it’s killing me that I can’t get out there and give it a whirl. I actually rode a whole three hours yesterday so I have these delusions that I’m somehow in shape. Of course, I only averaged about 140 watts… but I saw 300 a couple times. That means I can sit in a 1-2 field, right? That would be no, especially considering that it takes an average of 225 watts for 2 hours just to sit in a Superweek field (with at least 100 or so spikes over 800 watts), I best stay out of the way.
However, I have set up the LeMond so that I can go out and “tool” around just about anywhere I want, even in the mountains. I swapped out my Ultegra crankset with my Mom’s Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon Compact and put a 12-27 on the back, leaving me with a 34x27 granny gear. I rode the combo yesterday and it’s super rad. Climbs that I used to avoid on easy days I was able to spin up at like 95 rpm’s and around 200 watts. If I can figure out a way to have my very own compact crankset I’d probably leave it on for racing out West. I never really spend much time in a 53x11 anyway, but a 50x11 is still 3.5” bigger than a 53x12 and I’d gain a ton of lower gears -- even if I keep an 11-23 cassette on. A 34x23 is actually only an inch bigger than a 39x27. (39.9” vs. 39”) For any other geeks that want to know measurements, head to GeRZ Bicycle Gear tables (where I gathered all my info from).
And last but certainly not least: some sad news about ABD’er Vicki Heck (who works registration at all our events). Vicki fell from the attic in her garage last night and is in pretty rough shape with a few factures. Fortunately, everything they’ve found are areas that will heal o.k. She’s currently at Central DuPage Hospital and I’ll post an update as soon as I know more.
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