Today was my last real training ride, 103 miles with 4400′ of climbing at an average speed of 15.5 mph. Chad and I did the same loop last week. My goal was to have at least 1000 miles from the first of the year until now and I’ve actually logged 1500. The bike’s been overhauled and now it’s got fresh rubber. At risk of jinxing myself, I think I’m good to go. Chad is too, after making enormous improvement over the last month. On Thursday we drive to Los Angeles and Sunday we start riding east.

My bike is a 2016 Specialized Roubaix. It’s all carbon with disc brakes. It doesn’t have electronic shifting, which is a nifty solution in search of a problem (IMHO). It also predates the Future Shock suspension that Chad’s bike has. I love it and I’ve put 12,000 miles on it, so far.