Yesterday was a complete washout for the day. I woke up to fog on the bay that only lifted because the high winds and driving rains eventually pushed it out to SEE. And as much as I wanted to jump on the bike and endure the inclement weather, the overnight drive was finally catching up with me and I spent part of the day napping and refueling my tank.
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| I swear there is water out there |
Jump ahead 24 hours and it was an entirely different story. Instead of fog, I was greeted with bright sunshine and a view of the ocean.
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| Told you there's water out there |
With mom and Dad in Boston to pickup 2 of my nephews who were flying in from Pittsburgh, I didn't have to worry about keeping quiet as I got up and started my day. First up was a quick cleanup of my bike which was finished by 630. Then Dad's bike was next on my agenda. On Sunday, we had to stop several times to work on his bike. 3 times he threw the chain in the bid chain ring and about as many times we had to stop and play with the rear derailleur to get it to shift out of the small cog in the rear cassette. Having limited experience with Campy, I wasn't sure where to start with the latter of the two ailments so I removed the hood covers and used
ProGold's Blastoff Degreaser to clean the shift mechanism. If I hadn't just put an old white towel down on the deck, I wouldn't have known just how much dirt and debris the Blastoff dislodged. And all I did was spray it twice but there was a definite change in the way the shifter was functioning. I ran through the shifting atleast 50 times and couldn't get it to act up again, here is to keeping my fingers crossed it continues to work the same way when he rides again. I tweaked the limit screws on his front derailleur, cleaned up the gunk on his front chain rings, wiped down his chain, and cleaned his cassette with the
ProGolds Foaming Citrus Degreaser. And yes, ProGold is a sponsor, but I swear their products make cleaning your bike easier. If you haven't tried them yet, you are doing yourself a disservice.
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| Best work station I've ever worked at |
By 11AM, I'd knocked out my to-do list and started focusing my attention on my ride. I'm familiar with the layout of the roads up here, but since its been 3 years since I last rode up here, I decided to stick to the main "highways" to make sure I didn't get too lost. I decided on a loop I estimated to be in the neighborhood of 50 miles... Beech Hill Road to 52S to 235S to 105N to 131N to 135W to 137S to 52S to Beech Hill Rd.
Even though I was riding on State Highways, if I was passed by 125 cars all day, that would be a lot. The best part about the ride is the views I was rewarded with on my second pass of Beech Hill. After climbing a short steep climb, reminiscent of many of the hills on the Dirty Dozen (less the city traffic) the long descent down the backside offers a couple of gorgeous views of Penobscot Bay. I had to stop and be a tourist by taking a couple photos, but I think it was worth it.
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| Beech Hill Rd looking East |
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| Beech Hill Rd looking South East |
Now, its time to start plotting a route for tomorrow morning. I think its time to take a loop around Lake Megunticook. Stop back tomorrow and see where I end up though.
