Yesterday, I arrive at home and find a present from TriSports waiting for me at my door. In it, some Gatorade Endurance, Endurolytes, and my brand-new Ultegra 12-27 cassette! So I grabbed my bike, threw the cassette on and headed out for the hills (well, the little speed bumps that we have here called hills - it is the midwest and the great plains, after all ;) ).

I wish I would have done this sooner. I’m not a super strong rider, and this cassette just flat out suits me better. Sure, I lose a teeny bit on the bottom half of my cassette and maybe some gears in between, but the range is just incredible. For one, instead of my normal riding being in my big chain ring and 3-4 cogs down from the top, I’m now riding pretty much right in the middle for the most part. This gives me much more room to play on both ends. With my 11-23, I’d find that it wouldn’t take much of a hill for me to have to shift down into my small ring to avoid being at the extreme ends of my drive train (generally, you don’t want to ride in your big ring and your big cogs - causes too much wear on your chain if you do it too long). Now, it takes a pretty big hill to have to drop down into the smaller ring which is just how I like it.

And having that bailout gear is sure going to be nice for some of those bigger climbs. I probably won’t even use it that much for the most part, but it’s nice knowing that you have that extra oomph if you need it. I still haven’t played around with the 11-27 combination. I’ll be sure to let you all know if and when I do.

I did my fastest 30 mile training ride yesterday averaging 20 MPH! I’m normally in the high 18s for easy rides and somewhere in the 19s for normal training (which is up from last year’s 17 and 18, respectively). To see my average speed for a solo effort start with a “2″ was nice though! I’m sure part of it was the excitement of putting on some new gear. And I’m sure I’m also well rested from the reduced workout volume. But the body is giving me good signs. I’m running faster than last year. I’m biking faster than last year. Only a strike can stop me now!