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Bob and I got back from New York last night, and the cycling gods were really not willing to give me any excuses NOT to take my newly-rebuilt bike out this morning. Last night’s weather was clear, and we even landed a half-hour early (yes, it is possible to land early when flying from La Guardia). So, after a bad movie (Smart People, Sarah Jessica Parker is exhibit #1 for why people who get paid for their looks should not smoke), it was off to bed with a 5:30am alarm.

I woke up a bit early, so I took my time getting everything together. Oops. Instead of being at Starbuck’s at 6am when they open, I was there at 6:15. Today’s ride is in Columbus, TX, about an hour away from our house near downtown, and it has a nominal 7:30am start. Since they let riders start the course up until 9am, I wasn’t too worried. The ride is called The Rolling Hills Challenge, and it covers much of the same type of terrain as the first day of the MS150. In other words, lots of rolling hills (“rollers” in bike speak), with hardly any flats to speak of (unlike the first 20 miles of the MS150).

Looking back at the start of the ride. Photo courtesy of the Columbus Lions.

The caveat to this is that since this is a relatively small ride (probably a bit less than 1,000 riders, spread over 4 distances), it uses many smaller back roads, rather than sticking to state highways and farm-to-market roads the way the MS150 course does. This means that we saw some pretty decent gradients (5% – 8% grades weren’t uncommon), and I even had to cross a 10 yard wide steel grate at 30mph (32.3, to be exact) at the bottom of one hill. It was cheaper than a bridge, I guess.

The first 20 miles had overcast skies and, wait for it, No Wind. As in, flags were totally limp, and the tree branches weren’t swaying. As a result, this was the most fun I’ve had on a ride in over month. Of course, the sun eventually burned through the cloud layer, and with it came Wind. Wind, wind, and more hills. With a side of Wind. I went from cruising at 19mph, to struggling at times at 7 – 9 mph. SNAFU, in other words. I did eventually finish the 62 mile course in about five and a half hours total time, though it was definitely a struggle. I would have more details and be more precise about how the ride went, but my swanky new computer locked up trying to navigate me through some of the back roads. While unwelcome, a big chunk of this was Operator Error. I need to load the detailed maps into it for rural Texas roads. It is kind of hard to navigate a course when you don’t know where you are, road-wise, and you de-select the “off road” option.

Since part of the impetus of heading out to Columbus was to test my new frame, it begs mentioning how it performed. In a word, well. The Roubaix has a bit of a split personality. When you are cruising in the saddle, it is a very comfortable ride, as race bikes go. I can definitely feel it working its magic on the Chip Seal roads and various patch jobs and bumps. However, when I stand up on the pedals, you can feel the power go straight into the wheels. No waiting. No hesitation. You are suddenly kicking in the turbo boost and going. It’s still not perfect, but as my riding savvy grows, I’ll know more about what I might want to swap out or simply adapt to what’s there. Either way, the frame is a keeper.

In summary, if you are considering taking up cycling, or already do cycle, and you are looking for less-crazy charity rides, this one goes highly recommended. It’s also going to be on my 2010 training calendar.