A nice weekend

It was a nice weekend here in bridertown... 

Saturday started early, even earlier than I would normally get up for my "day job". At Lake Sammamish State Park by 5:30, paying the $10 (!!) Discovery Pass just to get in and park, then pulling out the tool box, pumps, and workstand for all the last-second emergencies that pop up on race day. 

Aside from one person who needed to shorten up a new chain (which I did after the race -- the course wasn't such that he'd need the gear combinations that were causing the chain noise), and one woman who brought in her son's bike for a safety check (a bike for maybe a 6 year old), it was just airing up tires. Some were absolutely flat. 

I did find it amazing that some one would bring a bike to an event that they had apparently not ridden in... quite a while... and not even check the tires. But I was also glad that we didn't have the normal (at the shop) issues of "it just isn't shifting right". 

One thing that absolutely AMAZED me was that the first person out of T1 in the elite wave was on a mountain bike. With knobbies. And he came back after 14 miles still in the top 7. Maybe top 5. Impressive. 

 It rained for a short time near the end of the race. Fortunately I was packing things up by then. 

Back at the shop, things calmed down. A couple minor things left over from the week, and a new bike in for a quick lube which was done in short order. 

Then it was off to picking up our new-to-us car (a Jetta TDI wagon), and then to the training session for my daughter's first pageant. A long day, for sure. 

And yesterday was my long ride day. A large loop, hitting several small towns. At one point on a climb I shifted and must have hit a link in the chain wrong, because I was going pedal-pedal-kaCHUNK! pedal-pedal-keCHUNK! all the way up the rest of the hill. Stiff link time. It's only happened to me once before in the middle of a ride (though I've had it happen when installing a new chain, I can catch it right away). Not wanting to deal with that for another 50 miles, and not wanting to get my hands all greased up if I didn't have to, I stopped in at Enumclaw Ski and Mountain (don't let the name fool you -- they're well stocked and knowledgeable on bikes, both road and mountain) for a quick spin with a chain tool. I knew WHAT to do and HOW to do it, I just didn't have the tool with me. Nor did I want to do the trail-side repair by bending the chain by hand... Well, I walked in, and within 5 minutes was out the door with a quiet bike again. Props to Enumclaw Ski and Mountain! 

The rest of the ride was uneventful, and I was feeling better at the end than any of my other long rides so far this year. I was even a gear higher on the last hill than normal, with no cramping. Not to say I wasn't tired, but no saddle discomfort, not wishing the ride were over, thinking I could have gone farther (which is good, because in a couple months I WILL be going farther, with still a couple good long climbs to go).