I Just Can't Help It

Gentle Reader,

I'd like to preface my post today by stating clearly that I am painfully aware of my many character flaws, and am constantly reminded of them. These include, but are not limited, to being prone to hyperbole, having strong opinions about things that I don't know enough about, changing my mind frequently, obsessing about a wide variety of interests, refrigerator blindness, and spending other peoples' money. The list doesn't stop there, but I'd like to elaborate a little on that last item. 

A certain dear friend, who shall go by the name of Sunny, is in the market for a road bike. I keep encouraging her to spend just a little more than she wants to spend, and my powers of persuasion are frequently compromised by my aforementioned character flaws. I've tried all the arguments I can muster to encourage her to move up one notch on the component ladder...slightly better derailleur, bottom bracket, crank, etc., but she's not quite buying it. Today I thought I had an ironclad argument about how we don't think twice about paying an unexpected car repair bill than can run into the hundreds if not thousands, yet we don't allow a little more latitude when buying potentially transformational recreational/athletic hardware. Sunny acts as if she's not convinced, but somehow I can't help thinking that she is ever-so-slowly loosening the strings of her meticulously organized wallet. 

Truth be told, I am not an impartial consultant. A brand new road bike beyond a certain price point will just be begging to climb our endless hills, and I might soon have an occasional riding companion! Here's hoping.

Today's ride was stunning. It was my first jacket-free ride of the year, with temps in the mid-60s. Same old Lansing Conlon loop...I can't imagine a better ride with less than an hour to spare. Great tailwinds on the homestretch and feeling really strong. There were lots of other cyclists on the road today—I counted five others. Actually I saw six people, but I don't count riders without helmets. Maybe that's another character flaw, but so be it.

Stats:

Distance: 19.11 miles

Avg. speed: 19.6 mph

Vertical ascent: 949 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 148 bpm

Calories burned: 996 kcal

Max. speed: 36 mph

Time: 58:26