Fixed

I managed to figure out I twisted my chain somehow, and twisting it back in place helped. It still skips, but no different from before. Muscles felt pretty weak today.

Route

Easy and yet frustrating

Today, trying to cross a stream made by construction crews working on an overpass, I screwed up my derailleur throwing my bike across to the other bank. I worried, when it landed hard on the front tire, that I might have bent the fork, but that turned out all right. In fact, everything seemed in good shape other than the rear brake and gear shift--it had been twisted a half turn around the handlebar. But I got out my allen wrench and put it back in place.

Once I got back up to speed, though, my gears kept slipping, and I spent the next 16 miles yelling and screaming at the damn things.

I had the most energy I think I can remember, maybe due to the rice omelette I ate before heading out; or it may have been adreniline from anger at the derailleur. In any case, I barely felt twenty miles, though I was starting and stopping due to the damn skipping gears.

I followed the Around Lawrence in 20 miles route.

Eudora by backroad

Today I took a killer (the bad kind) trip to Eudora, and, including a trip to the library earlier, managed to just barely beat my record of last week, with about 34.4 miles. But about half the time I was on backroads, hilly roads of gravel, and my entire body aches as if I had a fever, the constant bouncing was so bad.

I'm having a problem with bottoming out about half way through. I manage these (for me) long rides, but the back half is always a struggle where I can't keep a steady pace. Today I even considered walking up a hill a couple of times, something I'm proud to say hasn't occurred to me much. Need to eat more carbohydrates first?

My route. No, not all 34 miles because I didn't include the trip to the liberry.