'Classic' Ride

Date: Nov 24
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Road
Bike: RB-1
Temp: 50+ WOW!
November mileage: 307
Year to date: 2121

first watched a 'classic' race on the tele, and then took a 'classic' ride this a.m. the forecasts today were/are for exceptionally warm temps for late november, low 60s. i woke up to 30ish degrees, and frankly i wanted to wait out some warmth. so, i settled down with my coffee and watched Lance's '93 Worlds Campeonato ride. this obviously isn't classic like a Coppi or Merckx ride, but what i noticed more than anything is that even in '93, the bikes were quite traditional looking. no carbon, or at least shaped, modern carbon. no obvious titanium. really, very few fat-tubed aluminium frames. mostly what i saw were thin-tubed steel bikes. i know ONCE riders were riding carbon Looks, but lots and lots of traditional-looking frames, which is quite unlike what's in the peloton today.

after the race, it had warmed up and i was ready. funnily, my mom had borrowed the truck, which still contained the blueridge. no riding that. i decided to pump up the RB-1 and give that Grant-designed mount a spin. and a great spin it was. average 15.6mph on my own, going very hard in the first half hour. the RB-1 feels so secure and steady, albeit its racing cluster is a little beyond me these days. the small chainring is a 40, which amuses me to think that i'm going to regularly climb on a bike with a low combo of 40x23 (might be a 25 actually). rode hard, suffered sore feet as always with look-cleat shoes, and had a wonderful, wonderful ride.

tomorrow is forecasting even warmer temps, so i'm going to try and get in a 2+hr ride, maybe even the 40m with the club.

Comments

Doug said…
I remember Lance's '93 Worlds win. Two weeks later he made his first appearance in the States wearing the Rainbow jersey. It was at a Pro-Am series Race in downtown Minneapolis. I went downtown to see it and see the new American World Champion. Before the race Lance was standing near the start line talking to a journalist. I was able to get within about six feet of him to snap a picture of him with the rainbow jersey on. When I got home , I went to take the film out of the camera only to discover there wasn't a roll in the camera to begin with. Damn!!! It was a fun race to watch anyway. I wasn't a Lance fan then and never became one. The bigger thrill for me was seeing Davis Phinney race again. I hadn't seen Davis race since the last time I raced against him in 1978. He had had some success since 1978.
LvilleTex said…
yes, "some" success! and you raced against him?? good stuff there.
Doug said…
I only raced for four years, 77-80. In 1978 I was living in Pittsburgh. Davis spent that summer in Pittsburgh living with the Chew brothers. Danny Chew later became a two time RAAM winner in the 90's. I turned 15 that summer and Davis was 18 or 19, a first year Senior. We had Thursday night club races and group training rides every week. I raced the club races and got to race against Davis every Thursday. He was unbelievable even then. He would take every sprint and every prime. Matt Eaton and Davis would do battle a lot in those club races. Matt was still a junior in 1978. In 1984 Matt would become Senior Men's National Champion. I was racing with these guys in my Intermediate Boys restricted gearing. I think we were restricted to a 89" gear. I would spin my butt off for 25 miles every Thursday nght, but I always finished in the pack sprint. It was a great time to be in Pittsburgh as a racer.

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