2X

Yesterday, the plan was to go out and spin for an hour on the road. I dropped the MTs at school and as soon as I pulled into the driveway, the rain started to fall.
The cross rig needed a shake down ride, so I pulled it out and rolled into the rain. It wasn't bad. The bike worked fine with it's new parts and the rain actually felt pretty good. I can tell you that Ultegra SL cranks are waaay stiffer than FSA SL-K carbon ones and the new Look Quartz pedals are very nice...stomp and go.
Anyway, I did the HoP(tm) loop down around the river. The rain felt good, my lungs were working properly and the legs felt like they were attached, so once I got to River Drive, I rode hard. I ended up riding @ 92-95% for 20 minutes...in the driving rain...and it felt good.
The rain picked up on the spin through campus and the 'hood. As soon as I got home and leaned the bike against the stairs, lightning hit...CLOSE! And of course, as it always goes in my life, the rain stopped about an hour later.

The group met at 6, as usual, and went off through the Fort. Well, they did, I turned and headed home.
The Specialized Toupe saddle that I'm borrowing from Shrews is waaaaay lower profile than the Flite I took off. I measured seat height and it looked the same...well, it wasn't. I felt like I was sitting in a hole, so I blew home. I can't just raise the post on the Ridley as it don't have one...
I ran to the ManHole(tm), grabbed 5mm, 8mm, and 10mm spacers. I threw in the 5mm and took off, riding the loop backwards to meet the group. The 5mm wasn't enough, so I stopped, again, took it out and dropped in the 8mm...perfect. The rest of my wrong-way chase was a 45 minute effort at 90%+. I met the group just after the 4-way stop, turned and chased onto the back. I rolled in with the group and, even with my detour, ended with almost 70km and 2 hours on the bike.
I ended with just shy of 100km for the day and 3 hours of ride time. I feel like things are coming back around after being sick.
Doog and I are meeting @ 7:30 in the morning for 2.5 to 3 hours, including some tempo. All are welcome...

I'll give a more in depth review of both the Toupe saddle and the Quartz pedals in the near future.