update on the ride.. i did it :) here are some pics of the Sam on the ride, fully kitted out, including rider: http://salamander.net/stage/LARiverRide2010/
the ride itself was pretty awesome. first several miles were through the hills of Griffith Park, and then onto the LA River bike path.. then a handful of mile through downtown LA.. back on a river bike path.. to Long Beach Aquarium, then through into Orange County (Seal Beach). here is a route map: http://tinyurl.com/232chez the only problems I had were with my right knee having increasing issues starting around mile 50.. after about 20 more miles i figured out it was due to having not enough float in the clip-in pedals on that side. i thought ahead and had brought some light canvas shoes (and had pedals with a flat, non-spd side) so swapped to those shoes for the last 25 miles and found myself sprinting the last portion after my knee freed up and stopped hurting. the Sam performed flawlessly - an extremely comfy if somewhat slow ride - it took me about 8 hours to do the whole thing... a lot of that slow time was due to meandering around downtown LA and urban Seal Beach with lots of stops and starts, lights, etc.. but i felt tall and sporty, especially compared to the elephants-on-tricycles look that 95% of the riders on their tiny road bikes had. everyone loved it too - i got dozens of "nice bike!!" comments.. and a few "wtf is that?!?". people were very impressed with my emcorkened bar ends, too :) one of the booth mechanics who helped me adjust the indexed shifter (which was skipping a ring) wondered if i'd restored a classic. i also saw another Sam on the River path - not doing the ride, but he had come down from downtown to take advantage of the nice day.. though i saw him with the bike up-ended and fixing a flat.. i'm forgetting his name - Matt? - he is on this list, though a lurker.. but it was funny to see another Sam. i didn't see ANY other Rivs, though someone told me there was yet another Sam on the course ahead of me. sooo.. my first Century down. not my last, though i might carry less on the bike next time or swap in a lighter wheelset/tire setup. best, andrew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
