New Toys

I ended up having to take a partial day off this Tuesday due to work issues. I got my pre-work core exercise session in Tuesday morning, but I wound up getting home from work around 7:45pm that night, so I scrapped my evening workout and just relaxed for a little while before bed. Yesterday was back to a normal schedule, so I got a chance to play with some of my new toys.

For Christmas, my parents got me some new wheels and cassette for my road bike (which is on the trainer). Last night I finally put them on the bike, along with a new chain. During my ride, I used the same gears I usually use, but it felt considerably easier. Either the extra day off really helped me, or my old chain and cassette were a lot dirtier than I thought. I'm leaning toward the chain.

I bought this bike used off of ebay last year. The previous owner seemed to have done a good job keeping the chain oiled, but apparently didn't realize that you're also supposed to clean it. The result was that the drivetrain had accumulated a tremendous amount of gunk (that's the technical term). I cleaned it pretty well when I got it, but it was so dirty to start with that it never got truly clean. The new cassette and chain are a definite improvement.



Also, there doesn't appear to be any issue using the Shimano cassette with my Campagnolo derailleur.

The two things I really meant to talk about were my new heart rate monitor and "power meter". I didn't intend for this to be a really long post, so I'll save that discussion for another time.

I think I'm going to do some kind of cross-training tonight instead of a trainer ride...