So I find myself on another ride at Glen Run after a few succinct text messages with my friend Chuck throughout the day. I leave the office a half hour early and we get right to it. I struggle, as I often do, to find the right balance of physiology for after work rides. I might be under-hydrated, under-nourished, sleepy and my muscles are atrophied from desk duty for eight hours.
I just have to punch it. It can take quite a few revolutions of rubber before anything feels good inside my carcass. This day, it was after 40 minutes of some pretty hot legs at the redline. We did a few loops around the pond and ran a few sections of the singletrack multiple times. We squeezed out just under five miles and about 950 feet in total climb.
I discovered that night that I'm still not there yet with my mountain legs. I had to slap some ice on my legs and sprawl out on the couch. But tomorrow I would have a welcome surprise. Fresh gear day would arrive a day early.
Getting new bike parts in the mail is always rad. I'd decided I wanted to break up with the stock handlebar on my Bad Habit... it just wasn't working. I wanted a bit more rise and sweep. I ordered a Chromag Fubar OSX from Jenson USA. In frickin' blue. So sexy.
The blue almost matches some of the blue accents on the bike. Whatever. Maybe I'm reaching. I'm doing less reaching in a literal manner, as the rise on the Fubar is 25mm vs. 15mm on the stock bar. The sweep is an addition degree back and it's also 780mm wide, vs. 760 on the stock bar. It's also 30 grams lighter.
The first few rides with the Fubar have felt good. I think it tweaked the stance just enough to put me in the sweet spot. I'll leave you with a cozy photo from the mod shop session at sunset.
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