The next best thing to a no chain day is a new chain day. A few posts on wattage yesterday reminded me of the phenomena I've seen many times before - that when putting a new chain on a bike I see an automatic power increase. An old, worn, dirty chain loses a fair bit of power to frictional losses, and because I use a PT, those losses happen before the power is measured - so dirty chains work against you mentally if you ride a PT. SRM/Ergomo users would never know the difference. Seeing how today's plan was a road ride up into Mesa Verde NP (from Durango, of course) - the longest road ride since september, and the same route - hell yea I put a new chain on the bike! And I'm happy to say, it did not dissapoint.
Looking at the power file is encouraging. I've been doing what I can to regain some sort of form, but today was a most pleasant surprise. Power was 95% what it was on the same ride before Moab on this ride (same route), but identical on the final climb. The endorphins were overflowing today, most certainly helped along by some new tunes, the Kooks. Thanks for that big wally :)
No camera today...this is the opening climb in Mesa Verde (last Sept, it's a lot whiter right now). Lots of switchbacks before this grade...and a shaded area covered with a couple inches of ice. More ice. Fun stuff.
I'm doing something different than originally planned with lights for OP. Let's just say I've opted for an 800 lumen Cree bar light...then whatever I put on my head is mostly redundant - so I'll go with light weight for the noggin, prolly a Cree x 2 setup with spot beams. But honest, this light I'll put on the bars is so obnoxiously bright (about 40% more light than Lynda's monster) the helmet light is going to be redundant...apologies in advance to anyone that'll be at OP and gets blinded by my luminosity.