Several Firsts

Saturday's ride offering several firsts.

* First solo ride of any distance (50 or more miles) this year. Very nice to decide where I want to go without having to coordinate with anyone else.

* First long ride on Al, the Ibis Sonoma I built up this past winter. Interesting how just a slight tweak of the saddle angle, raising the nose about 1 un-silly millimeter, made the overall fit far more comfortable. (Note: Brooks saddles, while by far the most comfortable to my butt, require exact fine-tuning, especially for the angle.)

* First long ride with STI levers. As a long-time and still-happy bar-end shifter guy, I like variety and have been wanting a common-to-most-other-cyclists STI setup for quite a while. This new setup worked well for me, and getting used to the best shifting patterns with my 50/36 chainrings and 12x27 cassette might have been the biggest challenge.

* First long ride this year with just bike shorts (no tights) and a short-sleeve wool jersey. Ah, spring!