April had some hiccups as far as cycling regularly goes. Only 31 hours of riding over 786 kilometers.
We had some great riding weather along the coast here in Southern California. We had some cool overcast days too. Cool enough the Voler base layer, summer jersey and Castelli arm warmers were perfect. The buff has become my default mask/neckwarmer/sunscreen these days.
I ended the month with very worn bar tape. I was putting off rewrapping it, but it was so ugly, I could not put up with it anymore. One evening, I sat down in the shop and wrapped some orange tape around the bars.
My balance is improving every ride. I’m not back to the track stands of my racing days, but definitely a big improvement over the first part of March. The new Voler jersey above is one of my all time favorites. Fit is very nice, though I am still aiming to lose another ten pounds or so. I don’t expect to hit that until maybe very late summer or fall. Because I have not been as regular in my riding I backed my distances down a bit. Plus there were some medical exams that had to be accommodated along with some tests. All came back good so, no worries there. Then there is the disruption my helping a friend with looking at motorcycles and then his purchase of one, that together we will shuttle along with spares back to his place late in May, and into June. Motorcycles and associated activities have taken a toll on May distances and will have a say in knocking down mileage come June as well. But, back to April; I did a lot of riding out to the Ortega park and back along the same route. Over and over. That got me to be quicker over all along that route. I managed my quickest in early April. I guess I hit the wind, traffic lights, fitness and motivation just right that day.
When I rewrapped the bar tape, I repositioned my bars to get the tops pretty much dead level. I may rotate them back down ever so slightly, but not until I’ve put a good long ride or three into the current set up.
On one of my longer rides, (My old long route that now seems not that long or hard), I stopped by Salt Creek Beach. I’d not been there in ages.
In April I also managed to flat the front that was very worn I couldn’t find the cause, but the tube, (a patched latex) had a good sized hole at the intersection of the sidewall and tread. I rode the tire as it leaked down for a little over a mile so I could stop at North Beach next to the little bicycle rental shop and use the picnic table there as support for my roadside repair. By using my last spare tire at home I ordered more Continental 5000 Grand Prix folding tires and a couple of latex tubes.
I’m now certain the battery life problems I was seeing earlier with the Garmin Vector 2 power meter pedals was related to the sketchy batteries I have. The last set of batteries have been in for several weeks now with no issues. I also seem to mostly take photos of the cockpit and my feet on rides. With my improving balance I am better at getting the phone-camera set to portrait mode and getting a better shot than usual.
Along The Way 