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Riding is good

This morning I went for a recovery ride at Blanket's. Temps were in the 30s and it was a beautiful sunny morning.  I was up at 6am and spent an hour and a half looking for a TV. Pretty ridiculous. Finally mustered up the gumption to brave the cold and I'm thankful that I did because I had a true moment of zen on an isolated South Loop. About 100 Canadian geese were heading south for the winter but they seemed to hover overhead.  I paused and looked up at them for a few minutes. They seemed to fly with me for the rest of the ride and after a while I no longer heard their calls, until they stopped. I'm glad I decided to go outdoors today.  I think it's important to take these pauses every so often. So much time I spend outdoors on a bike, the world seems to be whirring by.

I knew today would be an easy ride because my knees are still trashed from the road bike metric century (62 miles) on Saturday. Not so much from the mileage but my bike fit. Shoulders and just above elbows are also twingy. This is a bike fit issue I know. I think I'm reaching to far to the bars so I need to:
A: Move the saddle forward.
B: Raise the bars and stem.
C: Raise the saddle
D: Get a $$$ bike fit

Speaking of road biking, I am quite enamored with it to this point. Granted I've only been on the Silver Comet but I really like how quiet the bike is and how aerodynamic it can be. When I go back to the mountain bike, it feels like a fat behemoth. My 3 rides on the SC have been epic and rewarding. Last Saturday I pushed to a metric century with Steve Whittier. I definitely had more in the tank. RPE (rate of perceived exertion) was 5-ish so I could have gone harder.
 The week before I put in 54 hard miles. RPE was 7 that day with mixed in interval sprints at the stop signs.
Week before that was a 3-hour ride with Renee, my 1st road ride on my new bike. 30-ish miles.
Looking forward to making it to Rockmart next time for a 76-mile round trip.  Also looking forward to branching out on some isolated country roads.

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