Under Nineteen: My Bike And My Women: The Sunday Ride

It is only appropriate that as Mongo sheds pounds, trains hard, and prepares for the upcoming "Cat 5 Domination" season, my bike should also get in on the act. With the addition of my American Classic "Hurricanes", and some new "Open Corsa" tires, my road bike has dipped below nineteen pounds...with pedals. Not bad for an XL aluminum frame with a triple crankset.

The foundation of my training this Winter has been on my mountain bike, Li'l Pony Express. Hill training, speed training, distance, sprints...all have been done on a twenty four pound bike with one inch, 100 psi slicks, compact gearing, and a power sucking suspension fork. I'm here to tell you definitively..."The shit worked!"

Mongo has spent the last two days and about seventy five miles on the road bike, and boy, I am freakin' fast!...er and stronger than I was last year. All of my hard work is showing some significant benefits, and it's quite satisfying. My leaner body is a lot more comfortable in the drops, which in turn allows me to maintain a higher speed for longer using the aero benefits of my position. I've also noticed that my heart rate isn't spiking during climbs. The increase in HR is more gradual and steady.

Let's get to today's smackdown! It was as sweet as the nectar from Mrs. Butterworth's hoo-ha.(In a figurative, squeeze-bottle kind of way)...Two Cervelo P3's adorned with the appropriate and expected Tri-douches, and a Specialized Tarmac with a friendly guy who was out of his league.

When Mongo rides alone and has no outside stimuli to motivate me, I often get lost in my music and pay no attention to how fast I'm going. I'm like the stoned driver on the expressway. I don't notice anything's wrong until somebody passes me, and when I look at the speedometer...I'm doing thirty five. When I'm on the bike, it's more like seventeen. At this speed, there are always people ready to jump you...and that's what happened.

Long story short...Mongo and the Cervelos drop the Tarmac after about two miles. Mongo then drops the Cervelos on the only semi-climb after they employ team tactics by attacking me with back to back sprints on the flats. Just for shits and giggles, a few miles later I let one of them catch up to me after I let off the gas...and I dropped him again. There is no mercy in "Cat 5 Domination".