Last weekend merits a bit more attention and documentation than time allows right now, but the short story is Groundhog Day weekend was awesome.
Friday: Solid evening trainer session. Followed it up with some fancy-pants eating at D&S's. I've heard about their roast chicken. Now I've tasted it. Pretty impressive. And the roasted root vegetables on the side were what I love about winter. Rich. Comforting. Colors of the earth. Mushy...in a good way. Dessert was pretty effin' impressive. Profiteroles from scratch. Who does that? D does that. Nice work...even though the chocolate sauce was from a can. At least it was from a can and not a plastic bottle. Something about Hershey's chocolate syrup from a can screams, "Classy!" I'm serious.
Saturday: Up relatively early and caught a little TV news about Punxsutawney Phil and his exploits. SVR and I watched as the news showed several couples get engaged in front of the official groundhog hole. I couldn't help but chuckle inside considering what I had in store for later that night. SVR commented on some supah fly groundhog winter hats folks sported at the event. I'm sure I can find those things online.
Innaugural outdoor ride on the new Cannondale was next up. Good times out on the road with some fellers...MattyD., hEllicott, Hot Karl, and E-rock. Also saw Kyle out on the roads. The Rival group was good enough, but initial performance confirms how much I love my buttery-smooth Dura-Ace. I'm sure Rival will feel a bit better once broken in.
Came home and promptly shipped SVR off to a baby shower in Adams Morgan. Followed up with a swing past D&S's for some final pre-engagement errands. We bopped up to Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits to get Tony's help picking out a special bottle for the big night. The idea is to follow up and buy an entire case so we can enjoy a bottle on our anniversary in the coming decades. Some Dos Equis and enchiladas at Cactus Cantina and a quick trip back to the condo to show D&S the beauty of HD and the day was nearly done. Funny...not an ounce of nerves until D&S walked out the door and I was left alone until the magic moment.
SVR arrived home at the appointed hour. Off to 2 Amys. Crowds like we've never seen. The staff did everything right, SVR was surprised out of her pants, and now we're engaged. Happy Groundhog Day!!
Sunday: Another stellar ride, this time just with Evan in the hot, hot sun, and some putzing around in the lead up to the Bowl. The game was incredible. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend. Wish my grandpa was around for all of it. Alas...
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5 comments:
I see that you just got the Rival up and running, but you will notice a world of difference if you upgrade the cables and housing. I personally use teflon coated cables and Jagwire L3 housing. When I switched to SRAM, I got Force for my race bike and Rival for my training bike. The Force stuff comes with teflon cables and I noticed a big difference between the two just with that difference. I upgraded as above on both and performance is equal between the two. The only difference now is about 100 grams. I think you'll notice a much improved smoothness by upgrading. Good luck!
Adam-
A thoughtful suggestion. Thanks for it.
Judd
To echo what Adam said: I just got a Giant race bike with Force. The shifting was a little stiff compared to Dura Ace. I was having a Cinelli RAM put on this week and added Gore coated cables. I rode it for the first time yesterday. Big difference in smoothness that came completely from the cables. I was hesitant about SRAM at first but like it a lot already.
Judd,
I was the one who yelled at you from the 10 o'clock peleton after we made the turn off of Ezworthy.
Give Rival a chance...I'm on new SRAM Force stuff and LOVE it. Eli Hengst and I were both talking about how we love our former grouppos, but how Force IS good.
just ride that bad boy :-)
Congrats again!
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