New Bike

My Scott P3 Sportster served me well all during the summer last year. With a super strong frame, knobby tires and oh so convenient front suspension, you couldn't ask for a better bike to navigate the rough and rugged streets of New York City (cobblestone streets anyone???). However, I came to the realization that it just wasn't the right bike to tackle the 100 miles in September.

So, today I got in my first few miles on the new addition to the Hogan bike family. The Kuota Kharma is my first road bike, and my initial impression is "wow!", what a difference the right bike can make. I got a great deal on last years model, otherwise I wouldn't have splurged on a carbon fiber frame, with such nice components.

I just got back from a lap of central park, which is a little over 6 miles. I put in a very hard ride last night on the stationary bike at the gym, so my legs were still a bit cooked. I'm also using a cheap pair of pedals until I take the plunge for a clip-less set. I suspect that will give me a boost once I have mastered those. That having been said, despite the chilly weather I clocked a personal best of 21 min, 45 seconds. I could just feel the power in the bike cutting through the air ;)

So, all in a all I am very pleased and looking forward to lots more miles when the weather is better.

First Ride

This Saturday was a beautiful day in New York, so we took advantage of the warm weather and got in our first real ride of the season. Originally we had planned to meet up with Joey (a co-worker of Martino) and do our famous "5-bridges tour". That ride takes us across the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Pulaski, and Queensborough bridges in order, and covers approximately 31-35 miles, depending on how much meandering we do.

Alas, due to a bike mechanical failure, Joey was unable to make it. Instead Martino and I did an easy warm up lap around the park with what appeared to be every other bike owner in Manhattan! It's amazing how the first day of good weather brings the people out. After that we headed down the west side on the greenway to check out a few of our favorite riding spots from last year. After a nice lunch and a few more miles, we put Martino on the train back to Newport and I headed home to the UES.

I found a great Google mashup app that lets you plot lines of travel and it calculates your distance traveled (http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm). According to the map, we put in about 14 miles that day. All in all a good ride, and I noticed that my arms even got a little pink from the sun. I'll definitely have to remember the sunblock next time.