Emily, Linz and I left from Furman at 9 this morning to do a leisurely ride up to the Saluda Bakery and back, if there is such a thing. For the 4th year in a row (some people never learn), I've ridden into Saluda on Coon Dog Day. The first time this happened, again by accident, was my second bakery ride after moving to Greenville. I was riding with a friend who was still showing me some riding routes in the area, and we happened upon this culturally intriguing festival. I didn't even know what a coon dog was. Or a funnel cake. Both in abundance at this grand affair, and both could kill you.
So this being my 4th trip through the festival, and Emily's first (Linz wasn't saying), we decided to make the most of it, and pose for a picture with some confederate soldiers. Real ones of course. Their uniforms look like they were made with horse blankets and they must have been melting in that heat. The guy on the far right confessed that he had a performance moisture-wicking t-shirt on underneath. I doubt the real guys would have approved of such namby-pamby behavior.
After feeding our faces at the Wildflour bakery, we watched the tail-end of the procession, and then made our way back out of town and up the road. Emily especially was delighted to have witnessed Coon Dog Day; after all, isn't life about the little adventures? Linz still wasn't saying..
So the reason I added "compact cranks" to the title of this blog post, is because I've been stuck between a rock and a hard place with regards to crank size recently. I've been riding a compact crank for 4 years now, and have been pretty comfortable climbing. Coming from mountainbiking, I tend to spin my legs, and the compact works great for all the hills around here.
When I got my new Giant bike in May, it came with a regular crank. I thought it would work just great (truth was, I didn't want to put my manky old scratched compact on my shiny new steed, so I just thought I'd tough it out. Little did I realize it wouldn't fit anyway because I was still on 9 speed and now moved to 10 speed.) My legs have been becoming noticeably more and more tired after riding, and the last straw was a ride in Brevard with the team on the 4th that had me getting off the bike and walking up a climb. The ride absolutely killed my knees. Ridiculous. So, despite the advice of many well-wishing people that I needed to ride full size cranks in order to be competitive, I wussed out and got some compacts. Shiny new ones. And today was my first ride back on a compact crank. Heaven!! I learned something from that. Two things actually: one, people will offer advice and it's okay not to take it and do whatever you think is right, and two, I just have to pedal faster!
Thanks for the fun ride today girls.
6 comments:
'Mine is bigger than yours' has been a popular mantra since the beginning of man (and woman). Cyclists have carried on the tradition. Maybe size doesn't really matter?
Growing up with Lindz, I, too, will not comment on how many Coon Dog Day - type festivals I have been a part of;-)
As for the "compact" issue, I am always asked if I ride one and I do not, but am seriously thinking of converting... Does it really make that much of a difference?? OK, I'm sure it does, but I'm old school, I guess!!
Sounds like a fun day! I ran yesterday and rode PM this morning in nice, quiet solitude... my legs felt great, even though I was pretty slow!
Hope to see you all soon!
I never new there was a Coon Dog Day, but then again I grew up north.
Tom and I both rode our "compact" cranks up over Saluda and then back up Green River Cove.... wouldn't even think about using my standard crank for that... simple physics...more range.. closer gearing steps.. equivalent big gear..
Dang, and I am a physics instructor, too;-) haha! And, Scott rode his mountain bike up to Tuexdo from Greenville, last weekend - makes me wonder about a triple as well... He's training, though!
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