Back on the bike

Tomorrow, I'm doing 200km brevet ride from Marana to the top of Mt Lemmon and back. 125 miles.

So today, I put the bike back together again. It has been lying in my living room in pieces for months. I've been so busy since the start of the semester in mid-August, I can't believe it's November before I'm actually riding again.

• First, I degreased and washed it. Charged the dead SRM PC V controller while I did all this.

• Threaded in a shiny new Shimano Dura-Ace 9-speed chain, my last one. Push the pin in. Break it off carefully. No more pins left, gotta get some spares.

• Installed new rear Michelin Pro Race2 tire (old one ruined on too-fresh tarmac in Delaware). New rear brake pads (Swissstop yellow) for the Reynolds Stratus carbon clincher rear wheel. Adjust the rear brake and pads.

• Swap the touring seatpost/saddle for the regular one (Selle Italia SLR and Bold Precision Ti seatpost). It's actually identical to the touring one except for the Moots Ti seatrack. Mount the underseat Blackburn bag with tools, 2 CO2 cartridges, Park patches and inflator.

• Put the fork back in. Adjust headset preload. Line up saddle nose, stem and fork. Put the Keywin pedals back in. Tighten cleat bolts on my shoes. Tighten waterbottle bolts.

• New stem mount system for the Garmin Vista Cx. Reset ascent, tracklog, and trip on the Garmin. It has been a while. Almost forgot how to do it.

• Connect PC V to Windows XP. Set the new date/time. Mount it on the bike. Hit Set + Mode to set the offset. So much stuff to remember. Get dressed.

It has been four hours. Finally, I'm ready for a shake-down ride. 12.6 mile loop around Rancho Vistoso. Nice sunny day and no creaks from the bike. About 533 ft of climbing.

SRM:

I see I pushed the wattage close to 400W near the end. Couldn't resist. It's good to be back on the bike.