Kick A** Weekend

Top of the Shady Canyon climb...

Man, what a weekend.  I had a great ride on Saturday and a great run today.  And the frosting on the cake is that Oregon is in the BCS National Championship.

Saturday morning I headed out with OC Velo on a 60 mile ride from Huntington Beach, down to Lake Forest and back through Shady Canyon in Irvine and Newport Coast in Newport Beach.  It was an epic ride, being that it was slightly warmer than last weekend and there was more climbing than usual.  The coastal range around here isn't too high, but if you cross over it a few times you can get some good climbing in - we did about 2300 feet.  I don't live for climbing, but I'm starting to enjoy it more than I used to.  Plus after every uphill there is a downhill, so there is always some sort of payoff in the end.

I had to take Ian to a birthday party Saturday afternoon so I texted all my Oregon Ducks loving friends and told them I was in a sports news lockdown until I had a chance to watch the game on the DVR.  I didn't get to it until about 9 last night, but I was still (thankfully) in the dark about it.  The game was a pretty good, actually great at times, and the end result was that Oregon won.  For that I am happy.

This morning I went for a 7.6 mile run in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.  I've fallen into this pattern on Sundays where I'll rotate a 7-8 mile trail run one week with a 10 + road run on the other.  Unlike two weeks ago, when I ran this route for Black Knight's Virtual 10K, the winds where calm and the trails where dry.  I even stumbled upon a quarter mile spur path I had never found before, so I checked that out as well.  No snakes, plenty of rabbits.  Just the way I like it.

Ian and some sword game.

I then took Ian to an arcade called "Nickel Nickel" for a few hours so Mary could Christmas Shop.  This place is a total dump filled with games that are all at least 10 years old.  But everything is five cents and we made $7 last an hour and a half.  It's also conveniently located next to Surf City Cyclery.  I've been meaning to buy a new saddle wedge bag since the one I have is terrible, so I picked up a Fi'zi:k bag that has a special clip system that integrates with their saddles.  Way better than straps.

Finally, I don't want to become known as the boy who cried wolf, but there are some things cooking with Endurance Athlete Project that might be cool and that I might be able to talk about later in the week or early next.  This means I might be a little scarce on the blog posting side for the week, but I'm going to do my best on the blog reading side.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

New Wheels

According to a report I read a few weeks ago, the total amount of money deposited in US personal savings accounts increased $27 billion from $427 billion to $454 billion in the past year.

Though I've been trying to do my part to add to the aggregate American savings, my efforts where set back a little bit when I walked into Surf City Cyclery and bough a pair of Mavic Cosmic Carbone aero wheels last Sunday.  Last week I made the mistake of doing a hypothetical "I have $1500 - which component groupset would you buy?" post and a bunch of you said ditch the components and get a wheelset.

You spoke,  I listened.

In my defense, I did show some restraint.  I had the presence of mind to immediately realize that an extra grand for the next level of Zipp or Reynolds wheels was not (nor should they be) in the cards for me.  Given my athletic ability, I'm better off with the Mavics and maybe an aero helmet with $850 still in the bank.

Funny enough, I did get a slight component upgrade in the end - the cassette is Ultegra.

I finally had the chance to put them on my bike today but didn't really get to try them out.  I had to fiddle with the set screws in the drop outs ("slide-ins" actually) because I needed more clearance for the wheel in the concave of the seat tube.  I was a little surprised by this but I have a feeling it's actually the tires - I threw some Continental Gatorskins on the rims just to try the wheels out and I think they are a deeper tire than what I originally had on.  I finally took a short spin this evening.  My final judgment is obviously withheld for further testing, but I could definitely feel a difference.

 

They do look cool though.  And they make that wicked churning noise when I ride...that's a good thing.  In my first couple of races, it was THE sound on the bike course that sent a shiver of fear down my spine when I heard it come up behind me.  And then "Woosh!", someone would fly by.  This (the passing) will probably still happen but the other guy's wheel sound will now be drowned out by my own.