I’m now the veteran of 3 rides this week on the Optima Baron; 25, 16 and 12 miles respectively. And on the third ride, I felt I made a major breakthrough – I didn’t fall off! My first two ride falls were nothing major, both being less than graceful low speed dumpings at junctions. I find while I am maintaining any semblance of speed I am comfortable and in control, despite various moments of wobbling, especially when I crank up the pedalling. My DF cycling brain still wants me to sprint up the hills and race to every road sign. I have been averaging about 17mph, about 3mph down on what I would expect on my DF over a comparable course and distance, but I also feel I am only giving it about 75% of the effort I would put in on the DF. This is mainly due to my primal fear of impending death if I go all out down the hills. Being new to the world of disc brakes I mounted the front one incorrectly and wore down only the bottom third of the pads, now this is corrected, the brakes are horribly jerky whilst the pads even themselves out – which of course only adds to the excitement! I have moved the cleats down as far as they will go, and this seems noticeably more comfortable, and shortened the boom also. So my biggest issue is stopping at junctions and starting again. I have to remind myself to drop down into the lowest gear before I stop, or I am doomed. I have found the best way to deal with forgetting is to just get off and start fiddling with the rear wheel pretending something is wrong, in a veiled attempt to cover my mistake. Then manually shift to the low gear when all the cars have gone past! Finally, I dropped my road shoes off at the local shoe repair shop to have super sticky rubber heels attached, so when I do have to make those awkward junction stops I won’t feel like I’m wearing ice skates.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 04:15:42 +0000
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