cannondale track

paradise loop – my legs were starting to feel it today on the ride.  the weather was sunny and clear, as the picture depicts, but a bit breezy.  not too bad, just enough to keep me cool throughout.  lots of people on the bridge on the way back, as expected on a nice sunday.  on the climb out of sausalito, I passed a casual looking, slightly overweight guy on what looked to be a vintage road bike.  he was giving it a good effort, so how can you argue with that.  there’s a windy “peak” where the road turns down into a short descent then proceeds to curve up, the final time to the bridge.  I passed him a couple hundred feet before the peak, and proceeded to cruise the short descent, saving a bit for the climb to the bridge.  I guess the guy didn’t like that too much, because he passed me quite close with some sloppy knee-out pedaling in the big ring.  he passed 3 more people as the road started to curve up, but lost momentum (or his legs) and began slowing.  so then I had to pass him a second time, this time, a bit more awkwardly.  I guess it was more like a “had to be there” type moment, ha!

paradise loop – as mentioned yesterday, I’m going to dial back the mileage but increase the intensity of my rides.  this picture is a bit deceiving, you can’t quite see the 15mph west wind that battled me the entire ride.  it’s an odd shift pushing for more power knowing the ride will end sooner, so I won’t need to save myself for an additional loop.  in fact, it’s a bit more difficult, to me at least.  either way, it’ll be a nice mixer to the rides I’ve done in the past.  and the fact my road bike is going to be ready next week, I’ll need to work on my lactic threshold, since the endurance is already there.

as mentioned yesterday, I dropped off my caad9 at the shop yesterday.  but as I typed the last entry, I forgot to tell them to swap the ceramic derailleur pulleys from the 6700 to the 7900.  so I called them today, told stevie to add that to the work order.  then a couple hours went by and then I forgot yet another thing to the order – thomson masterpiece setback (originally, I ordered it, but it came without setback from some reason), this time I hope the shop’s supplier doesn’t send out the wrong one!  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

oh yea, what about that prototype tire?  well, if you’ve ever run a soma everwear or a vittoria randonneur, you know that tires with a lot of compound on them tend to square off when they’re skidded on.  which means in a turn, when the wheel is at a sharper angle against the ground, the contact patch the tire maintains through the turn, is significantly less.  you’re riding on the “edge” of the tire you’ve squared off.  that point aside, this tire is gummy, and heavy for what it is.  I’d still prefer the stiff reliability of a gatorskin, and the fact it comes in a 23mm size means it won’t get as squared off when skidded on.  the tire’s not dead yet, but I’m predicting within a few days, it will definitely be.

stoked on my new carbon clinchers.  it’s like a brand new baby, you just gotta get excited about it.

paradise loop – with nathan, ben, and kyle.  quite possibly the most people I’ve seen out with me doing the loop since last year, haha!  nathan crushed it on 47×17 and dual brifters on his track bike.  came to the sad realization that my lactic threshold is still way low, but my endurance has greatly improve over the past couple weeks.  nathan showed us how it was done…power for days.  was quite fun being out with some other people other than my music, for a change.

on an unrelated note, two rooms are opening up in my apartment.  I’m located in nob hill, right on the edge of chinatown.  if you’re interested, and want more information, feel free to e-mail me: domsalbatera AT gmail DOT com.

double paradise – I headed out today knowing there was a 20% chance of rain.  to my surprise, on the way back home, it started raining.  not hard, but enough to get the ground thoroughly saturated.  and my prototype tire wasn’t having it at all.  however, on the plus side, I saw connor and travis from freewheel heading back from their ride.

then I got a call from travis.  my custom phil wood hubs are IN.  they’ve done spoke measurements for the cx-ray order, and they should be in next wednesday.  along with the crown jewel of the wheelset, the SLR cog, I was told that phil wood also made a titanium lockring.  surely, a custom build such as this, deserved it.

my dura-ace 7900 has yet to come in, but according to usps tracking, it came into the bay area yesterday, so I’m just assuming it’ll be here soon.  then I can drop the caad9 off to have it 2.0′d – YEA, I just made that a verb.

double paradise – last night, as I was riding home, I got a flat on market street.  and out of all the places to get a flat, it was on the newly painted dedicated bike lane a block before van ness.  I changed it out, and finally made it home.  in the morning, I swapped rear tires for the continental supersport that freewheel wanted me to test, and I figured I should swing by the shop to get a spare tube.  got to the shop, and jonathan from mash was sitting on the inner tube ball wearing a house of commons kit.  I think it was his bike on the rack in front, a pinarello road bike with shimano components.  I didn’t get a good look at it.

then I headed out for one of the most draining, painful rides I’ve ever done.  the wind just sucked all my energy away, slowly.  I thought it’d let up halfway through, and instead it got even stronger.  needless to say, I just wanted to get home.  I’m even dreading finishing this post, knowing I’m going to have to walk 2 blocks to get some bananas.  yea, it’s that bad.

day 1 on the continental supersport: the continental supersport is a sluggishly comfortable tire that has the skid similar to the soma everwear.

I don’t want to write too much more on it, as I’ll elaborate on it later, when I’ve had a couple hundred miles on it (if it makes it that far).  I was trying to think of more to write…hmm.

double paradise – windy and a bit on the chilly side this morning.  I wore my giordana sleeveless base layer, and all I have to say is SHIZZAM.  it breathes so well, I never found myself too hot or cold.  it really does wonders under a jersey.  I don’t ever see myself riding in marin without a base layer of some sort, it was absolutely phenomenal.  it’s a bit hard for me to explain, but having the layer kept my chest warm and my back cool.  never winced at a cold burst of wind, it flat lined my temperature.

now I’m off to drop off valve extenders at freewheel on my way to shoot some portfolio photographs.

paradise loop – several days ago, zach was talking to me about his training and riding schedule.  he’s training for crits, and told me that he was doing shorter, high intensity rides.  the longest ride he’d do would be paradise loop.  for the past several weeks, I’ve been building a strong endurance (base), but I think it’s time to mix it up a bit, and start doing 1 loop and high intensity to raise my lactic threshold.

we’ll see what happens.  bottom line: RACE YOURSELF 2010!

double paradise – I was actually suppose to meet up with another guy today, named chris.  he even told me he was bringing out his vivalo yesterday night.  but one thing led to another, and I got a text at 10 that said he wouldn’t be able to make it.  which was fine, at least he had the courtesy to let me know.  the bridge was breezy and cool, which was to be expected – forecast said 63-65 degree high, constant east-bound wind at 14mph.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I still want to build up a langster with dual brifters as a training and wet weather bike.  I thought about it the entire ride.  it’d have all the mid-range components I mentioned in the earlier post, some specifics switched around, but generally the same type of feel.  a good in-between for the caads, especially when the weather gets wet and cold again.

now that the next project is settled, I can focus on riding in the sunny spring weather.  hell yes.