Bad news about UB Express...

Monday, July 8, 2013
I started into my ride thinking I’d go long if I felt okay.  Since I’d been having trouble with my derailleur, I rode past Performance Bikes to have them make the adjustment.  Brian was working the mechanic shop and put my bike on his rack.  He adjusted the cable, then began a series of pulling and twisting moves on the bars that make up the frame of the bike before finally taking it off and returning it to me.

“You planning on riding this bike a lot?” he asked.

“Actually, yes.  I’m going to be putting in a couple of thousand miles on it over the next several weeks,” I said and told him about Tour Ohio.

“Frankly…this is the third generation of carbon bikes and they made some real mistakes in the design.  I’m not so sure I’d want to be counting on this bike for something as important as that.  You have some extremely corrosive sweat and I’d be concerned about the integrity of the frame.  You should be riding on titanium,” he concluded.

Well…I knew about the corrosive level of my sweat since I’d destroyed three frames in my lifetime already.  In fact, I’d had a titanium frame once and corroded all the components from the frame though the frame was still good.  I should have hung onto that, but…water under the bridge.

“I can’t afford to be getting a new bike at this point; I’m leaving on my trip in six weeks,” I explained.

He shook his head and wished me ‘good luck’, but left me with an empty feeling as I pedaled out of the store for my ride.

Which went well.  The rest day had done me some good.  It was very hot and extremely humid again…in the 90% range…but I felt strong as I rode and managed to go a little over three hours and 50 miles.  I know that I need to get out on consecutive days to really begin building my saddle endurance and to keep my body from bonking once the ride begins.  Bonking…a cyclists term for low blood sugar and energy depletion…is common on long rides, or rides over consecutive days when muscle energy is not completely replenished.  Training the muscles to absorb more energy by riding long and often is a proven technique to increasing the amount a muscle can store and the secret to completing Tour Ohio.  In fact, during the ride I’ll need to pack in the carbohydrates (the fuel of aerobic exercise) by eating pastas, pancakes, fruits, vegetables and other forms of the energy source.  I should be burning in excess of 6,000 calories per day, so no amount of eating will add any weight to my frame once the Tour begins.  Nice.

Bike duration:  Three hours and 10 minutes.

Training Heart Rate:  120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  2650.