Le Madonna is ready!

Last night I stopped by the shop for the ladies group ride and took out the Madone for its inaugural ride. It doesn't feel like home yet, but has great potential. The front derailleur and the seat were giving me troubles—but that didn’t stop us from riding. We did the Super Prime/144/117 loop backwards. I’ve only done this route one way so it was fun to see it from another perspective. Those that have ridden the route know about the railroad tracks on the route. With, now the older bike, it was—how can I say it—not a very comfortable part of the route. With the Madone—it felt more like a bump. It was so nice!

I’ll have to get used to a compact system. The hold dinner setting—main course, salad, and desert plate—is now down to just the main course and salad plate. As one of my Hellion girls said last night “Girl, you need to get off the training wheels.”

The wheels also were a huge upgrade. From the lower end Bontrager set to the Race Lite set. I noticed the difference in the corning ability—now I just have to work on getting more confidence in myself. I can’t even imagine what a higher end wheel set are like—no wonder those guys and girls are fast!

I leave for REGBRAI tomorrow morning. I can’t believe it’s already here. I haven’t even trained properly for this ride. HELP—my liver is not ready! Last year I did the 2nd half. Less miles more partying. This year I’m doing the 1st half (70-80 miles per day). Which doesn’t mean there is less partying, just getting to the camp site a whole lot later then the 2nd half. Did I mention, Miller Light is sponsoring our team? I’m only doing three days of riding—I don’t know how someone does a entire week!