Last Friday and Sunday I had a chance to test ride the Strada with the new upgrades. 650c wheels, racing tires, new seat, new seat bag, and cassette gearing gave the bike about 2 mph extra speed but also, took away the plush ride characteristic with the old parts. I'm fine with loosing the smooth ride, so long as I can squeeze out some extra speed. It's a recumbent so the bumpy ride will not be as bad as a regular diamond frame bike.
Friday's ride I met Mike, a 7 Hills Cycling Club member. He was out riding his Litespeed road bike. He caught up with me doing around 22 mph. We road together towards Loveland until my water bottle fell off my bike and I had to stop and look for it. With the jarring ride it finally wiggled off and no I didn't find it.
Sunday's ride I met Mike again when I turned around half way on the trail. He was doing his long recovery ride. He had already had gone around 80 miles when I met up with him again. Mike had another 25 miles to go to finish off his 105 mile ride.
I had hoped to follow a fast roadie on the way back on my half way point. It was fortunate for me to meet Mike again and be able to chat on the way back as well. When you're riding with someone your speed seems to pick up and not such a chore to maintain. We were doing around 20 mph on the way back.
I learned more about Mike on the ride back. He belonged to a racing team in his club and is quite a competitor. His work environment and home life allows him to spend allot of time on the bike. I'm so jealous. I forgot to ask him what his ranking was with the USA Cycling Organization. He had to be at least a Cat 3 or 2.
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