Wednesday and Thursday all I could think about was getting out onto the bike for a nice 4-5 hour ride. I had come up with a way to join to of my regular routes and called it the "Home visiting the sisters" loop. It would have me leaving from home, riding up through town to Ashland via the 3 sisters and then back home via my regular commuting route up Old Gun. The length looks like it will be just over 90 miles in length if I do not throw anything in to get over the mythical century number.
On Friday morning, I realized I had gotten the game time wrong in my head for the U.S. World Cup game. I was thinking it was the 2 p.m. game but in reality they were a bit anxious to play and they kicked off at 10 a.m. New plans! Watch the game then head out for a shorter 50ish mile loop.
Once out onto the road, my legs were feeling great. Very spanky indeed! About 10 miles in, it started to feel as if I was getting closer to the ground with every pedal stroke. I stopped to check my seat height and sure enough it had slipped. It would continue to slip and get readjusted until I found myself down by Pony Pasture.
The view of the river surrounded by the full green foliage definitely lifted my spirits. I decided to continue riding instead of turning back as it was the same distance either direction. While climbing Old Gun, the clamp finally gave out completely and the seat went slamming down. It reminded of me of the days back in elementary school when we would all pull or kick chairs out from underneath each other while we went to sit down. A quick ticket straight to ground level!
Once to the top, I used the good ole' gps on the phone to find some back-roads which would cut the 20 something miles back home in half. Sitting while pedaling started to take a toll on my knees so I would stand as long as I could then sit then repeat. Standing for so long felt as if I was running the bike without all the pounding of the joints.
Finally got home, took a shower started hydrating and started looking for the Salsa clamp I had purchased to pimp out Jenn's Gunnar when we first built it up. It was slightly too big for her frame and never got used. Thinking it was going to be too big for my frame as well, the plan was to strip it of its bolts and use them on my current Salsa clamp. The clamps turned out to be the same size and Le Antique had been bothering me to give it some flair to prove he was still a young stud who could keep up with anyone. Now Le Antique will be officially referred to as Le Antique with a metro flair.
