{"id":15435,"date":"2012-08-18T14:53:47","date_gmt":"2012-08-18T19:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/?p=15435"},"modified":"2012-08-18T14:53:47","modified_gmt":"2012-08-18T19:53:47","slug":"big-rain-in-the-distance-august-18th-bicycle-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/2012\/08\/18\/big-rain-in-the-distance-august-18th-bicycle-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Rain in the Distance – August 18th Bicycle Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I started today’s ride the sky was overcast. The radar showed a big rain concentration around Huntsville but not really moving. The weather forecast called for a 40% chance of rain so I decided to keep the ride short at under 30 miles. It ended up at 28.3 miles<\/strong> at 14.9 mph average speed. The wind was not really a factor in the slower average speed so I think my legs and maybe the abundance of stops and starts pulled it down. For a change the temperature did not make it to 90 degrees while I biked with 88 degrees showing on my home weather station when I finished. With a 20.9 mph max speed and 77.8 RPM average cadence I did not display the numbers to get \u00c2\u00a0higher average speed.<\/p>\n

Also I wanted to get back home by noon to watch the open TTT for the Vuelta a Espana which I can watch on Universal Sports on Dish Network. The last time I wanted to watch the Giro d’Italia Dish ended a free trial right in the\u00c2\u00a0middle\u00c2\u00a0of the race so I switched to watching EuroSport. I am not sure why Universal Sports became available again but I’ll take it. I had to avoid stopping too much since I left at 10:00, riding time was 1:53:43, and stopped time was 7:59. I got home just as the DVR starting recording the race. I like watching from the DVR to skip most of the commercials.<\/p>\n

My ride went well with no problems. I am waiting for my new Ultagra ST6700 shifter\/brake levers to get here. I want to replace my current ones before riding the Hotter’n Hell Hundred next Saturday to test the\u00c2\u00a0installation\u00c2\u00a0and settings. The current levers are suffering from my sweat with the left one not wanting to move the gears on the crank without some coaxing from me. The right lever is working fine after I oiled it and replaced the rusty brake cable. The left lever works fine for braking but not so for going from the large rind to the small ring up front.<\/p>\n

Other stats:<\/p>\n