Well that was inconvenient. I caught a cold Last Friday and have been sitting around trying to get better ever since. And getting sick meant I missed out on a 2-day backpack trip with the roommates. We went shopping for food on Thursday night for the steep 28-mile hike and I was super excited to eat it on the trip, but since I didn’t go I missed out on that also.
I did an easy ride yesterday that included some isolated leg intervals, but my bike shut down near the end of the ride. While I was pushing up a hill with one leg at 50 RPM, which causes enough torque to lift you off the seat, the free hub body completely tore itself inside out so that when I tried to pedal the cassette and free hub just spun without making contact with the hub. Last week it was giving me problems too. Whenever I stopped pedaling, the free hub would jam up and the chain would go crazy, so I never coasted. It was sort of like riding a fixie. But now it’s done for good. It’s basically a double free wheel. Luckily I was able to hitch a ride home within a few minutes; something that is super easy to do down here.
Today I borrowed my roommate, Aaron’s, rear wheel and rode over to Krista’s house to borrow one of her dad’s spare wheels for the week. From there, her dad and I went on a ride to an area I haven’t been before. I didn’t know such a place existed. I’m still coughing but I feel better every day.
Unfortunately, I won’t have any power data for the next week while I borrow the powerless wheel. I’m still debating whether or not it’s even worth riding since I won’t have any data. Is there any benefit to training without a power tap? Do any physiological changes occur? Cycling Peaks says no, so therefore I highly doubt I’ll gain any fitness from riding with just an ordinary hub. Maybe I’ll just leave the power tap computer (which only works with the wheel) on my handle bars and call it even. At least to passerby’s it will still look like I’m training.
BIG NEWS: oranges at Fry’s grocery store are 33 cents a pound!!! I bought ten pounds three days ago but ran out. So today I bought 16 more pounds. That’s a lot of oranges!! 33 cents. That’s an amazing deal. 33 cents. Oranges. Fry’s. Hopscotch. California oranges. 33 cents. 16 pounds for five bucks. How can that even be possible? Those Californian farmers must be getting HUGE subsidies from the fed. Fed Ex is awesome. Oranges grow on trees. 33 cents!!! It’s a buyer’s market. It’s a bad time to own orange stock I guess. No one wears orange socks. The guy who designed the Fed Ex logo with the arrow between the E and the X was paid a million dollars. Oranges. 33 cents!!!! Eating too many oranges causes thinking disorders. 33 cents!!
KENNETT PETERSON 