This weekend has been a great weekend for rides.
First I went on the Saturday Morning Ride (a designated route that takes riders to Prout’s Neck through South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth) with Shannon, the leader of the women’s ride out of Saco, along with other women who joined us. It was tons of fun, especially since I was feeling pretty strong and able to ride up front with a pretty strong rider who I recently met on the CCCP Monday Night Ride and the Tuesday Women’s Ride.
Then, I went on a nice ride with my husband and Tracey. It was a casual ride going over the same route as the previous day’s ride.
The weather was perfect and we saw oodles of other cyclists out also enjoying the day. However, the wind picked up a lot on our way back, or perhaps we were just riding more into it, which made for some difficult riding.
Don and Tracey decided to head back to her house and she gave him a ride home. Don still ended up with 30+ miles today – his longest ride to date. (I think he likes his new bike, making riding more enjoyable.) When we parted ways I rode down my favorite stretch, Shore Road, to enjoy the rollers and to be a bit sheltered from the wind. Then it was into an intense headwind riding across the Casco Bay Bridge from South Portland to Portland.
I swung by the shop on my way home to have them look at my bike since I kept hearing a rattling in the back and the gears seemed to be grumbling, like that cross-chaining sound. As it turnes out my cassette was a little loose, which was fixed easily, but my chain has stretched and no only do I need to replace it, but I need to replace the cassette. I suppose it’s to be expected – I’ve put almost 3000 miles on that chain and cassette in the last year since it was built up. It’s time to be replaced.
Maine Velophile 