Last week a big change happened in my cycling...I got a new bike, "Willie"! My friends at Pegasus Bicycle Works built him for me in time to start my Death Ride training. Its a beautiful Wilier with Campy components designed to get me up those grueling climbs.
Saturday was his maiden voyage with the team. This was the bikes true test, since I had only ridden him a couple times before this ride. On the first hill climb the lower gearing and pushing 7 less pounds of bike weight was very apparent. It was amazing at the ease of which this bike glided up the hills!
However, my new toy does take some getting use to...throughout the day I found myself struggling with new clips and cleats set-up. The rhythm of my stops & starts are not as smooth as they used to be...it frustrates me a little. The lighter weight bike going downhill also feels strange.
Overall I was having a great ride with the bike until our route briefly popped us onto a bike path. This is where my day got interesting. As I was coasting along, another little pink cyclist with training wheels on took an abrupt left turn into my front wheel...yikes! My options were, abrupt left off the road and down into a rushing creek or emergency break and lay my bike down...oh, shit! Fortunately I was only at a coasting speed and took option # 2. I did everything I could to protect the bike in the process. It appeared other than a bruised ego everything was fine with me and the bike. Oh...and I didn't run over the little girl.
45 minutes later I began to feel the effects of the fall. My neck & shoulders were tightening up and my bike wouldn't shift into the lower gears. After identifying my need for Advil and SAG to adjust my bent derailleur...we headed onto the last part of our ride.
After the unscheduled stop, I was riding with only two people (a friend and a coach) to catch up with the rest of our group. As we were heading up the last climb of the day, I encounter another unexpected visitor...a squirrel! Without warning he jumped off a rock at my front tire! I braced for impact...we all did! Somehow, his massive squirrel body made it pass my front tire (barely) and I ran over his tail...we were all screaming including the squirrel! Holy crap...I ran over a live squirrel!
Somehow, we all survived the encounter without hitting the pavement. OMG...my heart was pounding out of my chest as we didn't break stride in our cadence. I was not about to hit the pavement twice in one day! Since there was no bike lane we had to continue riding to the top of the hill before we could take a second to catch our breath and check our shorts...seriously!
Having this be my first team ride with "Willie", I thought nature and children had it out for me and/or my bike...haha! It was quite the story to tell when we reached the rest of the team. Two first's...going down with my bike and running over a live animal. Trust me...I don't want seconds on either of those activities!
It was an eventful day and one I will not soon forget.
Ride safely and beware of training wheels and squirrels!
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