40 miles
Most (sane) people anticipate Valentine's Day with dread, either love-locked into what's sure to be an obligatory talk about "feelings" or love-lost into a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Loneliness and Self-Pity included in every bite!). Either way, it's an endurance ordeal, filled with chalky candy heart obstacles.
I had my own endurance ordeal, no chalky candy heart in site. My goal: ride longer than I ever had before. Can't do it alone (certainly not on Valentine's Day!) Luckily, I had just the crazy long distance cycling buddy in mind: Steve Burns.
Steve Burns is an avid cyclist at work who a) stole my first bike for me (it was quickly stolen from my garage a few days later) and b) made me pinkie swear that I would ride STP with him. In one day.
Seattle
to
Portland
204 miles is insane, but it's doable. It's one the most well-supported, well-attended, well-managed massive bike events in the country. And it's completely ridiculous, so that's why I have to do it.
Anyway, to train, I have to start doing some long rides. Who better to do it with than Mr. STP-in-a-day, Steve? Before June, I'm going to have to do some century rides (100), at least one century and a half (150), and a bunch of 50 milers (you guessed it, half-centuries). The Cascade Bicycle club has some organized rides that do those distances leading up to it, but the most I've done at one time is 30 miles, so I needed something in between.
Steve offered to take me out for a ~35 mile ride on Valentine's Day, but with the sun was so bright, the sky was so blue...we tacked on some more miles to make it an even 40. So instead of talking about "where this is going" and "what we mean to each other", I spent my Valentine's Day talking about..."Where are we going?", theology, South America, and nutritionists.
On the way we passed the world's most productive milk cow and her accompanying statue.
Here's my ride (original image behind this link so you can see the detail):
Did I mention that Steve rides a recumbent bike? Yup, everyone I know is a little crazy. He also commutes 90% of the year on his bike, and mocks people for being afraid of the cold. In a butchered paraphrasing of his words, there is no bad weather, just bad equipment.
I took Creamsicle out for her first ride of the year (it was a nice dry day out so no need for Pam's fenders) and she felt good once the path leveled off and I didn't need to shift around. It was so nice to be able to clip in _finally_, but I definitely noticed the component level difference. Pam's shifters are a higher quality so switching gears is whisper quiet and seamless. Creamers, well, she's a little finicky. I'm not sure which I will take on STP. Creamsicle is prettier, lighter, and meant for riding quickly. Pam is ready for bad weather and therefore heavier, but has great shifters.
Enough gear talk. Back to the real world, back to work.