Hybrid Vigor

I was in a minor biking accident on Sunday.  Nothing terribly serious; I was riding on some wet planks, had to jog a little to the side to avoid a pedestrian, and had my rear wheel slide out from under me (tip to others: I think it was exacerbated, and maybe even caused, by hitting my front brake too hard.  Be very careful about using that when not going straight on a slick surface).

I hit the ground on my side, sliding to a stop.  After standing up for a minute to take stock of myself, I figured out I wasn't much hurt.  My elbow and hip each hurt a bit (the elbow stopped hurting in a few minutes; the hip is still sensitive to the touch, but not bad), but it didn't seem bad.

Then I picked up the bike, immediately seeing a big dent in the outer rim of the rear wheel.  It turned out that the wheel was a bit tacoed, so I need to get it replaced (and am just going to replace the whole wheelset, as that was on my list anyway.  I was just planning on waiting - probably another year - to do it).

The upshot is that I needed to get a taxi to pick me up that day, and I've had to go back to riding my hybrid for a while.

Going back to the hybrid has been very interesting.  With the lower seat, the muscle demand is definitely different (dunno if that's better or worse).  I've also found I can push more gear with the hybrid than when I last rode it (I had earlier noticed that I push a lot more gear with the road bike than with the hybrid; maybe that's not all bike design, after all).

I've done the same 15.1 mile loop the last three days with the bike, and have been between 16.18 and 16.3mph each day.  More consistency than I've ever had, day to day.  Dunno what, if anything, it means, but it's certainly interesting.  Anyway, getting back to the main point, those aren't records for me, on that bike, but I think they're the second, third, and fourth fastest rides I've done on it.

What's also interesting is that maintaining a higher cadence is actually easier on the hybrid.  I hadn't noticed that before.  I've regularly been over 100rpm on it, whereas I only occasionally get that fast on the road bike.  Again, I don't know what it means, but I suspect it's a good thing.

The one thing that annoys me is that my daily neck problems haven't gone away.  I hadn't experienced them before on the hybrid, but that might have more to do with distance traveled (I think my record, before, on the hybrid was only 12 miles) than with the bike configuration.  I've got new handlebars for the road bike (came out of the fitting), and will try to get them on by the time I get the new wheels.  Hopefully they'll help.

One other side note: I recently got a pair of Santini Lampo Bib Shorts, and was trying them out the day of the accident.  They're insanely comfortable, just wearing them; I can't believe how soft and slick they feel.  I'm still not sold on the chamois, though my mind is still open about it; it definitely feels different than my Pearl Izumi shorts.  My one concern with them is durability, though they made it through the accident without any sign of wear (which is saying something, since I slid on my hip a bit), which is encouraging.