The CRCyclists group had a nice 25 mile ride around Stonewall Jackson Lake Saturday. I hadn't been here before and knowing the ride leader, I was suspicious of the "rolling" description of the route. Jack's "rollers" are my "long grinds", but then that's Jack's butt disappearing in the distance in the picture above. You might just see El Presidente Kelly disappearing over the top if you click for a larger view. These two pictures were taken a few seconds apart, one to the front and one to the rear.
I was way off the back for the start of this ride. The hills were fairly steep and frequent, and my chain kept popping off on the front. I stopped at least 4 or five times to put the chain back on, and to get the low limit screw set better. The 24/42 jump is just a bit much to ask of a front derailleur. Since I wasn't up front to harangue folks into regrouping, they just kept on rolling without me. El Presidente was sweep, so felt obligated to babysit me which just made me feel worse. I couldn't even see the group in the distant views so finally just settled into enjoying the ride at my own pace and even stopped and got a couple pictures. It turns out that this first stretch was by far the prettiest anyway.
They did stop to regroup after about 8 miles (at the first turn), so I got to ride with the group for the rest of the 25 miles. I was able to hang on okay with the new Gold Rush; I was often toward the rear on hills, but at least not off the back. More hill work needed.
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