Going the Distance
You may have heard already that I finally took the big step. My wife got a job in Santa Rosa, so we packed up and moved down there. If you've ever been to Sacramento you might wonder how I could tear myself away. Luckily for me I still got to drive back up to sacramento each week in july and august so i could continue to work, at least until I got a job in the north bay. I had the good fortune to be in sacto for just about every ridiculously hot day (like the day it was 111). Every day when I drove up there felt like going to prison.
Now I'm working in petaluma, and living temporarily in Rohnert Park. In early october we'll be moving into a house way the heck out in forestville (between santa rosa and guerneville, on the russian river). At that point our lives will be pretty much back in order.
I actually discovered that riding a road bike can be fun! Sonoma county has a terrific assortment of back-country twisty roads, varying between flat runs along the rivers and viciously steep mountainous roads. I've been riding my road bike alot. In my defense, I have to say that many of the rides contain significant portions of rough and/or unpaved terrain. One of them even included a loose fire-road descent with a wade across the creek at the bottom. I hope I'm not turning into Jobst or something. Unfortunately I don't seem to be getting any faster, due to the lack of rest and lack of interest in doing any high-intensity training. Maybe next year. For now I'm content to build up a base of fitness for cyclocross season.
This is the first year in a long time that I won't be going to Interbike. Too bad, because it's finally in Las Vegas again instead of Disneyland. On the other hand, if terrorists blow up Las Vegas, I'll probably be glad I'm not there. I was perusing all the magazine reports of what's new for '99 when I noticed that shimano will be making 9-speed cassettes up to 34 teeth. Now we're starting to make some sense. I believe with a 34 tooth cog i could go down to 30 in front and just throw away my granny ring. good bye chainsuck. Of course if the narrower chain and cog-spacing brings in other mud troubles, it might not be worth it. If shimano would make an lightweight 8-speed 13-34 cassette, I'd buy one. I actually know how to pedal a bike, so i'm not going to run out of gears with a 44-13 as my high end.