At home

Last Friday I flew home for the weekend. Monday morning, before the flight back I went out for a ride. I like to ride in autumn because I like those beautiful colors.

The forest was a little sad but the weather was nice. It was a nice test ride, I was testing my post season legs, I had a very long break, about a month since the last ride and I was testing my new tires also.

At the last race I destroyed my Race Kings (the post about the last race is coming soon) and I had a set of Town and Country under the bed. I wanted to bring the bike to Berlin so I thought it would be a good choice especially that I wanted to bring the trainer to.

They are pretty good tires. If you need a tire that is good on the tarmac (this is very fast) and sometimes you want to go in the fores this is a good choice. I slipped a few times but the tires helped a lot and I didn't fell. What I don't like about these tires is the comfort. I don't think that I will buy a new set after this one. The Race King is more comfortable and it is very fast on the road and pretty good in off road. I think that the main difference is that the Town and Country is more durable than the Race King.

This was the first time in the forest after my bike had a little upgrade. I had to change the cassette and the chain because it had over 6000 km and the chain started to jump. I also had to change the middle chainring and the rear hub. The Cassette is XT and the chain is XTR. After the first pedals I could feel the difference, before I had Deore :)

PS: If somebody says that the bike makes only your legs stronger is a liar because all my muscles area little stiff now :)

New tires

I bought a pair of Continental Race King tires for the race tomorrow.

They say that the track is wet, but there are a lot of country roads, some roads on grass and even some paved roads in the race so I hope I've made the right choice. I will test them today on some bad paved road when I will go home to Tarnaveni.

Taking the Dog for a walk

Sunday I took the dog for a short walk, about 6 kilometers, half of it uphill up to the forest above Tarnaveni. He was so tired at the end that he didn't want to come home with me (I was with my bike). Here are some pics:

I always loved this view

posing

The city

horses

wuffffff

Riding in the rain - again

Saturday I went home (to my parents), I wanted to wash the bike because it was very dirty. But it was raining again and I was running out of time (I had to get to a wedding) so I couldn't wait for the road to dry.

The first kilometers were really bad, I was eating a lot of dirt. Then the road got drier and I was gong faster and faster. I was in a hurry because my toes were frozen because of the wet socks. I got home in a record time and with a very dirty bike :)

Stats:
    - time: 1:32:45
    - distance: 38,72 km

    - average speed: 25,1 km/h

    - max speed 58,9 km/h

The storm

This is how a thunder storm looks like from my windows:

the clouds were gathering

the rain

This is where my bikes sleep

My babies sleep at my feet (awareness test - have you noticed the Sidi shoes under the bed? :P)

More pics here.

This is where I live

Click here. I will make some pictures soon ;)

Long ride on Sunday

This Sunday after I went for a ride in the forest and my bike got very dirty I decided that I'll go home to my parents and wash it. It was a very nice day  and the first 10 kilometers went by easy. But then the wind got very strong and I've slowed down to about 20km/h. I was hoping that after I climb the hill and descend into the valley the wind will disappear. But I was wrong and the wing got even stronger, so i slowed down even more. This way I got home in almost one hour and 50 minute, which is about 10 minutes slower than my usual time for this distance. One important thing happened on the way home, the overall distance that I've made on this bike is now more than 4000 km :)

Stats:
    - time: 1:47:42
    - distance: 38,35 km
    - average speed: 21,3 km/h
    - max speed 47,2 km/h

After a short rest and a great lunch I've headed back to Targu Mures. The wind were good winds, helping me from behind so I was way faster. I got home in a record time, 20 minutes faster.

Stats:
    - time: 1:27:19
    - distance: 37,83 km
    - average speed: 26 km/h !!!

    - max speed 50,5 km/h