The Biscuit's Got A New 'Do'.

Seabiscuit came home today with his new cockpit installed.  He is sporting a new style of bars, brake levers, cables, and colors.  I decided to coordinate with the white accents instead of the red this time.  I have always loved white on a bike.  I will withhold my final opinions until I have the race wheels on and the picture is complete.  I am will also need to replace the red bottle cage with a black or black and white one.

The base bar has a drop but the pads sit up too high.

Extensions are still uncut and cables need to be trimmed.

Not liking the red bottle cage anymore.

Aside from a different look, the new set up has a substantially different feel.  For one, the base bar is narrower and has a drop.  Also, the pads and extensions have considerably more stack.  The brake levers are spring loaded and so have a much different articulation.  I don't like the extra stack or the fact that the new brake levers are too large for my hands but I love the braking action and the drop in the base bar.  It's a trade off but I suspect that in my quest to get the stack down on this bike, the final result will end up being a new frame.  Since I am not ready to make that leap so soon after getting this bike, I will live with too much stack.

I rode today for a little over an hour.  Not far, maybe 18-20 miles.  I forgot to turn on the watch until ~30 mins into it.  When I was trying to power up the hills, I was okay.  Horribly out of shape, but okay.  On the descents and anytime I had to stop, shift, or otherwise do anything technical, I was terrified.  My cadence read an avg of 72 and I was initially horrified but then I realized that I was either climbing or not pedaling at all while braking.  I couldn't bring myself to handle a bottle to take a drink.  I had to stop and put a foot down for that.  The first time I did, I realized that I was shaking.  I relaxed a lot as the ride went on but still couldn't quite get over it.  I let myself descend at a reasonable speed (maxed at 36 mph) in a tuck (pedaling for greater speed was beyond me) twice.  The second time I caught a crosswind and almost blacked out I was so scared.  I figured the right answer was to just keep pedaling.

The fear is (largely) irrational so nothing will be accomplished by indulging it.

So the only answer is to keep doing it.  Do it over and over until I have forgotten what there was to fear.

On the upside, I went back for a swim lesson today.  I haven't seen the Texas Fish in a year but she is so good at what she does that I am still benefiting from previous sessions.  It was a great lesson today and we focused on the tiny form details that might be affecting how I load my shoulder.  The result?  My shoulder hurt more at the beginning than at the end.  I would call that a resounding success.

Finally, I went to the grocery store starving.  NEVER, EVER DO THAT!!  I might need to sell the car to cover the bill and I have five different varieties of kale in large volumes.  I am going to sprout leaves by the time I eat it all!!!

Holy leafy greens, Batman!!