Around noon today the fog began to dissipate and a little sun and blue sky showed through, and I decided I'd better get out for a little ride while it lasted. I rode an easy ten-mile loop along the river to Slater Road, then back through Hovander Park. My front derailleur is jammed, so I've been staying in low gears and spinning faster, which is probably for the best at this point.
I've been very lazy since fall quarter classes ended, but that was my plan: to take it easy and let my body recover for a few weeks. I've been going to a weekly yoga class, and practice a little at home, though not as much as I like to think I do. I'm adapting the Team in Training training guide that we used for the Seattle-to-Portland ride back in 2007 to work out a training schedule for the Red-Bell 100 this summer.
I'm also planning to take my bike in for a once-over by a professional mechanic, and also for a bike-fit consultation, as I've been feeling that my Surly Cross-check is a little bit too big for me. I have about a half-inch of gap in the stand-over height, which I could live with, but I'm beginning to feel a little over-stretched reaching for the brake-levers. Before I bought the Surly I was riding a woman-specific hybrid which was starting to make me feel a little too hunched-up and hamster-like. Thinking that I was just getting stronger after six years of riding it, I decided regular, old-fashioned double-triangle geometry would be better. At first it did feel good to stretch and straighten out my spine, but now three years on I'm feeling some twinges and strain in my upper spine, between the shoulders, and pain in my hands and wrists. But it's close enough that I think some expert adjustments or replacements in the areas of the seat and handlebars will make it fit.
The Cascade Bicycle Club Red-Bell 100 is a century ride from Marymoor Park in Redmond to Boundary Bay Brewery here in Bellingham. It's a fund-raiser for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that provides free bicycles to people in rural Africa. The event also benefits the Major Taylor program which creates bicycle clubs and bicycle education and safety programs for local kids here in Washington state. A link to my fund-raising page is below, with more information about World Bicycle Relief.
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