Blather on Bicycling

I just got back from another Sunday race in Boise. That makes two straight weekends of racing there. Today I finished 5th in the Hillsdale Circuit Race, which was a 5 mile circuit in which we tackled a steep hill 6 times. The weekend before I finished 14th at the back of a bunch sprint in the Slammer Road Race. Results for these races are posted at Spondoro.com. I was in the Category 4 races. At this time,  I’m lacking some punch at the end of races, but I’m now entering the speed building period of my training which should solve this problem. I’ve been happy with my ability to stick with the lead group on all accelerations and even climbing. Someday I’m going to write a guide about Boise vs the Oregon races. Both have their advantages and Boise is nice because it is only 2.5 hours from La Grande.

Friday before I left, was was doing some climbing repeats on Hug Road and my chain broke. I had to do an emergency fix that I had only read about. Because my chain requires a special link and I didn’t have a backup, I had to bypass the rear derailleur and reattach at the break. This left me with a single speed, fortunately on a gear that allowed me to finish three more climbs. I can say that this is a solution that works, although I had quite a few ghost shifts during my spin home.

While riding in Boise last weekend, I got some more insight about people honking at cyclists. While cruising through some very open landscape well south of the city, I heard a honk and had time to look up to see a signal. The driver was an elderly gentleman clearly waving at me with a smile on his face. I thought this had answered my questions until the next day. I rode with a group I like riding with when I visit Boise, Lactic Acid. During the ride, an oncoming car honked and inside I could see a hand waving against the window, but clearly only one finger was up. Because of the mixed messages from the different drivers, I’m still at a loss.