Well, Friday’s ride was easy, lighthearted and fun. Saturday’s started out that way, but only for the first ten miles. It got hectic after that. My wife and Mike turned to head home and Phill, Diane, Chuck and I put the hammer down – and we didn’t get any help from the wind, either.
Our pace on the way out, with a helping wind, was maybe 14 mph. Steady, but nothing crazy, but we actually picked up the pace once Mike and my wife headed back home early. We ended up with a 15 mph average and had to fight the wind to do it.
Friday’s ride was a “it’s nice to be out” ride. Saturday’s was more of a “let’s stretch the lungs a little bit” jaunt. I’ll tell you, I felt it the rest of the day.
Now, for that low-calorie drink option… I’ve always liked soda, Coke specifically. I hate how hard it is to work that crap off the gut, though. Dammit, it’s almost unfair. It isn’t, though. It’s science and nutrition. Put crap in and you look like crap before long. It is what it is, so I’m always on the lookout for a decent option that tastes good but won’t kill me with calories. My sister-in-law turned us on to this one:
Mix 70/30 seltzer water (carbonated water) to cranberry juice (over ice in the summer). Add a twist of lime and enjoy. Something like a quarter of the sugar, only 70 or 80 calories and a great taste.
Specialized glass not included
Fit Recovery 
Looks festive too! You guys should do the Rapha Festive 500! Starts today… Merry Christmas!
No chance! Too freaking cold – a new record for me, it was 18 at the start and felt like 12. I got just shy of 23 miles and that was good enough.
Not just good enough. That’s awesome! 🙂
My feet are still FROZE!
Wonderful!
FYI: I see the Specialize glass and I have to ask.
Some Nebraskans are in a bit of a snit. Specialized has pulled their partnership (wrong word) with several local bike shops that carry Specialized across the state, including the only one carrying Specialized in Lincoln and two in Omaha, leaving only 3 in the entire state (according to a guy who worked at one of the stores where Specialized pulled their “ticket”). There are discussions on local pages that Specialized has decided to follow Trek and use a corporate model. Either way, they’ve really pissed off the Specialized enthusiasts here in the state.
Trek bought out the “Trek Store” in Omaha (it was locally owned, but the manager told me that Trek ‘bought them out’ so now they are owned by Trek) and it’ll be interesting to see what that means for LBS around the state that carry Trek bikes. Luckily my LBS does hot business in Trek.
I’d love to hear your perspective on the changes at Specialized in a blog post, if you were so inclined. I know nothing other that what I’ve heard locally, and since you’re a huge enthusiast, I would love your take. It’s all really negative so far here.
As a side note: the local LBS that sold Specialized had to close (for a variety of reasons, not just the loss of their “ticket”, I am guessing)
Giant is starting to go this way as well, demanding 70% of floor space for their bikes, etc.. Now, that started because one of Specialized’s exec’s went over to Giant, so you can take that for what it’s worth. Most shop owners are telling the major brands to, as the Brits so eloquently put it, “piss off” because there are plenty of brands out there (BMC, Cannondale, etc.) who will be happy to have their bikes sold… So, I’d guess those locals shops told Specialized to piss off and they did. This model will only last so long with that kind of attrition though.
As a side note, my local shop still sells Trek/Bontrager, Specialized and Co-Motion.
Fascinating stuff. I’m so glad I’m not in that business. . . . Have any of your local shops had their Specialized tickets pulled? The funny thing is that JoyRide had almost exclusively Specialized bikes, very little space dedicated to other brands (you’d have to look hard for them). It was the newest store in town (9 years), but the owner had worked in my fave LBS for many years as manager. He knew the business well. Apparently not well enough, eh?
Well, that’s a tricky question. We only have one local shop that ever carried Specialized bikes. He is still stocking them, but he’s been around for decades. The other local shop carries BMC, Cannondale and Giant. I’ll check with our shop owner and see if I can find out what’s going on…
Do, because it’s an uproar and specialized is getting raked for being notoriously difficult to work with.