Soaking, Windy, Gritty and Great

It's never easy to hop on the bike and head out on a ride when it's rainy and windy, but this one felt necessary, as it's my last chance for a long training ride before Sunday's Lakefest Race in Whitney Point.  Lots of Ithaca riders heading to this one, so it should be a friendly event and a good time.

Tonight's ride felt pretty utilitarian until I reached Ellis Hollow Creek Road. Finally, after getting away from traffic (which is unpleasant and a little intimidating in the wet) and loose gravel, the rain tapered off and the familiar and comforting rolling hills lulled me into a meditative state. The Ringwood climb just keeps getting better, and I barely noticed my freezing feet.

The good thing about working hard in the rain is that after a while you don't even notice it, you're generally warm enough even when it's in the 50s, and you don't have to worry about getting dehydrated. Of course, the down side is that when you return, your bike is gritty as are your clothes. I had the customary rings of grit around the my ankles and socks from all of the road junk getting thrown off of the drivetrain. Rides like this necessitate a complete cleaning and degrease, and tonight I adjusted the rear derailleur and brake cables and even trued the rear wheel, yet another meditative practice that yielded great results. Hopefully that will resolve the cursed chain-jumping-whilst-mashing-the-pedals-on-big-hills syndrome. I've done so much micro adjustments, so tonight I started from scratch and carefully adjusted the derailleur  to hopefully resolve the problem for good. The're are few things in the realm of cycling that are more frustrating than being inadvertently shifted to a higher gear in the midst of an intensive climb, and it really throws your concentration, confidence and timing.

Today I topped 1700 miles for the year, which started in early March. Vertical elevation thus far this year is just under 95,000 ft., and according to Garmin's questionable caloric data, I've burned around 105,000 calories in the last 3 months! No wonder I keep shedding pounds...