Novara Randonnee: Shakedown ride.

Since I only got a very short ride in yesterday I decided to do a little more distance today to get a better feel for the bike and its supposed to rain for the next 4 days so now was a good time to do it.  Since I was going farther than just around the block I added a bag with tail light, and put in a multi tool, spare tube, tire levers and patch kit.

I also added the crank bolt covers before they get lost in a box but didn't take the time to add the kick stand which I need to mount.

Back on February 26th I did a similar route that included this modest hill on the Cresta, cause you got to start somewhere.  Its longer and steeper than it looks in the picture but its still modest as hills go,  I looked it up when I got home the Cresta's low gear is 21.9 gear inches; a 26/32 ring/cog combo and for the Randonee its 22.2 gear inches with a 28/34  combo, so basically the same and needed by this out of shape Clydesdale.  I need to ride hills if I am going to do Lopez at the end of the month so I might as well start  now.

The only reason I got the shot of the hill above and the pending rain shower is that I had to stop, I stopped because my seat-post had slipped all the way down rather abruptly.    The multi-tool I packed came in handy and I got the saddle back up, but I noticed at the end of the ride - just shy of 4 miles- that it had slipped down again.

When I got home I pulled the seat post to check the size which is 26.6, I noticed that it came out very easily and I flashed back to the big hardware bolt and nut the bike had in lieu of a normal seat post bolt when I bought it and I suspect the seat post is just a tad small.   I seem to recall I had a 26.8 seat post for the Gollilocks and the 4 seat posts incident with the Miyata trail runner so I will have to see if I can dig it out and give it a try or check the Cresta's seat -post size and failing that a trip to the Co-op may be in order.  More tests from the Randonee, hardly an smooth rebuild.

During the ride I noticed that while the 100 mm reach of the Nitto Technomic stem was fine I found myself wondering if a 90 mm or even 80 mm reach would be even better.  It would mean a slightly easier reach to the brakes.  Not planning on changing it but I will have to keep my eye out for deals on used Technomics for future experiments in fit.

While I doubt I would forget the seat post issue I will just leave it out so I don't hop on and go for a ride.

Ride. Take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Sigh. Smile. Repeat