About three weeks ago I built up a new Cannondale CAAD9 frame set. "EVA" is her name. I rode the previous bike "Jane" for what is a relatively short amount of time for me, about 7 years (50000+ miles). The rode the previous bike for 14 years! I decided I would make it as light as I could afford to and left off the PowerTap (hub is about 3/4lb) and did not install any cycle computer. Now anyone who knows me knows that I have always been a numbers guy. I want as much data as I can get. I run RACEDAY and WKO+ training software on my computer and immediately after a ride would upload mt wattage data. So after 3 weeks and best guess about 500 miles later I am riding sans data of any kind. And I must say riding "naked" is very liberating. I still occasionally look down at the stem to see my speed while bombing downhill, habits are hard to break!
I thought it would make group rides harder by not knowing how hard I was going but it actually freed my head up from the constraint of LT and Max efforts because now I am either bridging across the gap or not. No more checking to see if the effort was "sustainable" or not. Like Yoda says "There is no try, only do" I am also enjoying just riding and plan to ride "naked" until the end of June the start training on the TT bike (Sonja) for the fall Southern California Time Trial season starting with a TT at Fiesta Island in September. I may just run the PowerTap on the TT bike and just keep "EVA" pure ;)
I hope EDDY Merckx would be proud!
