ornoth_cycling | Field Trip and New Hoops

Two items to report…

Last Saturday morning my coworker Jay drove me down to Dartmouth (Massachusetts) to take me on the ride he used to do when he lived down there. We wound up doing 62 miles in 85 degree heat.

The route traversed several peninsulae sticking out into the Atlantic. We started out tooling through South Dartmouth and waited for an open swing bridge to cross Apponagansett Bay before turning south and skirting the water down to a place known as “Cow Yard”. Back up the peninsula to cross Slocums River at Russells Mills, then down the next peninsula from Slades Corner to Horseneck Beach.

While the whole route had been hot and sunny, when you got to within 200 yards of the beach, it suddenly clouded over and the temperature dropped a good 15 degrees, as the southerly wind was blowing the seasonal sea fog onshore, and you couldn’t see more than twenty feet offshore.

Took another bridge to the next peninsula, crossing over the Rhode Island border as we went up to Adamsville, then down to Little Compton and Sakonet Point, where we took a good breather. We’d pushed ourselves a little hard, and were averaging about 16.7 mph.

Discovering it was later than we thought (my cyclocomputer was still set to Standard Time), and feeling it in our legs, we decided to take a more direct route home, back through Little Compton and Adamsville (where we hit a very run-down general store), then Westport (Massachusetts) and Dartmouth.

Overall, it was a pretty cool ride. Nice rural and coastal New England, with not very much traffic at all, and very scenic in places. Very flat, with only a few minor hills. Despite being on the coast, the breeze wasn’t too bad, and we seemed to make pretty good time until we started limping, around the 45-mile mark. A good workout, and an interesting ride. Wish I’d taken some pictures for you…

In more recent news, last Monday the bike went into the shop for the annual tune-up, but also to replace the wheelset, because of the dings I reported in this entry. After destroying two Ultegra rear wheels, I was looking for something a little more durable, and hopefully I’ve found it.

I picked up a pair of Mavic Ksyrium SL hoops. Looking around the group I ride with, just about everyone who is serious about riding has Ksyriums, whether they’re the primo SLs or the more wallet-friendly Elites. At $875/pair, they’re pretty pricey, but they also seem pretty rugged, and I added on their special warrantee program, which will hopefully cover me if I manage to destroy these wheels, as well.

I rode them 75 miles on yesterday’s Quad Cycles group ride, and I’m pretty happy with them. They’re really light, spin up really fast, and the bearings feel nice and smooth. Although I’d expected a lot more ratchet noise from the hub when coasting, it was significantly less than I’d feared. And of course with bladed spokes and anodized bits they’re pretty sexay. So I’m really pleased and looking forward to putting some more miles onto them.