| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
34.10 miles
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Route:
Long Prairie & Stone Bridge Trail
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Time: 03:09:49
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Avg Speed:
10.78 mph
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Max Speed:
0.00 mph
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Calories Burned: 0
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Weight:
185
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Terrain: Off: Flat
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Bike: LeMond Poprad Disc CX Road
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| Club: Secular Cycleism |
| Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny. Windy. SW 10-15 mph. 42°-55°. |
Ride Description: First ride on the new bike.
Rode to Jim's, then to the Stone Bridge Trail. Rode to the Beaverton Creek & Mill sign and benches after Caledonia.
Took Stone Bridge Trail to McCurry - Love - Warblers back home.
I started out with a threat of rain 42° and the forecast called for a high of 47°, but it got up to 55°. I over-dressed. Had to remove a layer, and was still warm at the end. |
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It has rained every day since I bought my new Lemond Poprad on Tuesday. Last night, I picked up the bike from the bike shop in Madison, in the rain.
It even rained early this morning. So I waited until noon to go ride my new bike. Still, with all the rain this week, including flood advisory warnings, I was expecting the crushed limestone surface of the Stone Bridge Trail to be a mess at best. But surprisingly, it was in near perfect condition. The Long Prairie Trail was almost completely covered by wet leaves, but wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I only saw a hand-full of puddles.
The forecast called for a high of 48° with 10-15 mph winds, so I broke out the new Gaerne Eskimos to keep my feet dry. It was 42° when I left the house. So I layered up for a cool ride.
On the way to the trail, I stopped at Jim's to show him the new ride, but the sun came out, and it got up to 50° by the time I got to his house.
Enough about the weather!
The bike rides really nice. The combination of 700 x 34 tires, a very flexy carbon fork and the steel frame, smoothed out almost every stick, branch, and every manner of pavement irregularity that I hit.
I was so anxious about the ride, I forgot to see how much air the bike shop put in the tires. They have a range of 60 to 80 psi.
The stock Bontrager saddle was comfy and looks good. And the knobby tires were not too noisy on the pavement. The Shimano 105 shifting was quick and smooth. No complaints.
I'm not sure why, but my neck did get a little stiff by the end of the ride. Which is puzzling, because I've never gotten a stiff neck on any of my other bikes on longer rides. And this bike seems to have a more upright position than my road bike. My arms and shoulders were also slightly stiff.
I'm going to chalk it up to the cool weather and my lack of riding this month.
I was expecting to dislike the gearing on this bike (46/38 - 12/27) when it came to hills, it's higher than my compact drive Six13 (50/34 - 12/27) and the bike weighs 5 pounds more. But it wasn't as bad as I expected. Maybe it will make me stronger!
The Avid BB7 mechanical brakes have a good feel and modulation. However, that final bit of squeeze that you would normally use to lock up the wheel, was mushy and would not lock up the rear wheel. For obvious reasons, I did not attempt this on the front brake.
UPDATE: After the brake pads were "broken in," they have much more stopping power. I'm happy with them.
These have nowhere near the stopping power of the hydraulic Magura Marta SL's on my Rush. But in fairness, they cost a few hundred dollars less than the high end Magura's. And mountain bike levers, provide a better position and leverage over road bar brake positioning.
I've noticed some serious vibration in the fork when the front brake is applied.
From all the reviews I read, I knew about the flexy fork, but I thought it was going to be the kind of thing that only fast guys, pushing the limit, would notice.
Oh yeah, When the handlebar is turned to the right, the brake cable activates the rear brake. I doubt if this would ever happen in real riding conditions, unless I try a really sharp, slow speed U-turn. Still, I think the cable should have been longer. I'll address this when it's time to get new cables.
I like the way the bike feels when on the hoods. It reminds me of the good old days, when I used bar ends on my mountain bikes. Why did I quit using them?
So, I'm going to give the Lemond Poprad two thumbs up, and a five star rating for fun. Oh, did I mention it's one of the nicest looking bikes around. The metallic red paint is brilliant, and the contrasting white accents make for a sweet looking combination.
My New Computer...
I normally don't get too excited about bike computers, but the "Trek incite 9i" has one function my beloved Cat-Eye Mity/Enduro 8's don't have, a TEMPERATURE GAUGE! So Kool!!!
I also like the larger, easier to read numbers than my Cay-Eye's. And, that you can stem mount it without buying an additional mounting bracket. Although it mounts to the stem using zip ties. I had to buy a stem mount to mount my Cat-Eye to the stem on my Cannondale.
Things I don't like about the Trek incite 9i; It's slightly larger, and not as appealing cosmetically, it's pearl white. The trip meter measures to the tenth of a mile. (My Cat-Eye measures one-hundredth of a mile) And the Trek is slightly more difficult to remove from the mounting bracket. But the temperature gauge more than makes up for the minor shortcomings.
In case you were wondering...
Poprad is the name of the city in Slovakia where Matt Kelly (from Wisconsin) became the first American to medal at Cyclo-cross Worlds, when he won the Junior World Championship in Cyclocross in 1999—on a LeMond road bike that was set up for cyclocross.
www.bobkestrut.com/2007/03/11/matt-kelly-low-budget-superstar/
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