Chasing Stupid

A Story of Two Bikes

Beside the obvious superiority of the bike on the right due to the use of Campagnolo components, there are a few other differences that are not so obvious.

The bike on the left saw over 25 hours of training rides this week while the bike on the right was just excited to get out for four days of training in a week in well over 3 months.

In addition the bike on the left has one of those fancy computers that tells you not only how fast or far one has traveled but also how hard you actually rode your bike in terms like joules and watts. The bike on the right doesn’t even have a speedometer on it now so as not to discourage its owner.

The bike on the right is, of course, my bike. After three hours of sleep I woke up this morning at 6:30am, cleaned my bike, and headed out to catch the “Rocket Ride” out of Nyack, NY. I wanted to quit cycling forever on a couple occasions today. There was a time not too long ago when a ride like today would be effortless. I’m a long, long way away from that.

One week down. Fifteen hours. 260+ miles. Very sore body. Very happy bike.

Next week it gets harder.