Test Ride

It has been a long while since I last wrote. I can’t necessarily say that things were busy in Arizona, because for the most part, we relaxed with bikes, horses, and a beautiful pool. I also had plenty of time for updates, but something about being away from home makes me less likely to do the things I normally do. It was a nice vacation though. A bit on the hot side, but that’s Arizona in July. We attended a mildly stressful, but exceptionally beautiful and sincere wedding. For some pictures and a bit more info (and animals) see Robin’s blog.

After a few days of being tired and working I have finally had a chance to really test the new Pacer. I have been playing around with all the available stems in the house and have almost decided on what size I need. It now has a 115mm on it with a pretty big rise, so I have it flipped upside down. I think I will end up purchasing a 110 or a 105 with a small rise on it, say 5 or 6 degrees. That should be about perfect.

But the 115 was good for my ride the other morning. I headed out Sugar Bottom way with the intent to go through North Liberty and Tiffin and come back in on Melrose/IWV to test it in the hills. There is a small weight difference, which is to be expected as my old frame was made of really light aluminum, but for the most part it felt the same going up. I think the biggest factor was that I have lost some of the fitness I had in late May and early June. So my lungs were burning a bit when I tried to charge up the hills.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was some light construction on Sugar Bottom road. I’m not saying I’m a fan of what Edward Abbey would call the progress of civil engineering on one of my favorite roads to ride on, but in its current stage I was able to test the Pacer on a bit of dirt. At the moment I only have 23mm tires on it, but it felt great over both the packed gravel and the loose gravel.

By the time I crossed Mahaffey Bridge and started the climbs to North Liberty my legs and lungs were feeling great and I had a nice rhythm when climbing out of the saddle. The handling was slower than my old road bike but quicker than my cyclo-cross bike, so basically exactly what I was looking for. I weaved around seams in the concrete and had no problem jumping onto the shoulder when large trucks came a little too close.

The stretch shortly after North Liberty and north of Tiffin is also one of my favorite sections of road. Smooth blacktop, low traffic, twisting turns and rolling farmland make it aesthetically pleasing and easy to make as challenging or relaxing as I want. On this ride the traffic was particularly low, as in I did not see a single car. This had to do with some more construction on the three short hills just north of highway 6. This time I could not ride through. Well, I probably could have, but large dump trucks being filled by numerous earth movers changed my mind. So I turned around and road the nice stretch of road again and it was still traffic free.

The detour routed me over some very smooth gravel roads. Even on this longer stretch the skinny 23s still felt pretty comfy. There were a few rough, washboard sections though. So I’ll have to put some slightly larger, higher volume tires on for a serious dirt road test.

Coming in on IWV with a slight tailwind I kept it in the big ring and hammered up the hills. It felt good and the Pacer felt considerably better than my old aluminum racer on all the fat, open seams on that road. In fact, it was on a big, fast group ride this past April when we were coming into town on that same road that I decided I had had enough of my butt and hands being beaten up. So it was fitting that this ride finished up on the same road with me feeling much fresher. The Pacer is definitely a keeper.