Wheels and Wings

It's been a hot couple of days and the weeks are flying by!  

It was time to dig out a smaller cassette and stop riding a 27x12 and swap the climbing cassette with a more appropriate flat lander cassette with a 23x12.  The 27 was on there very tight, and there was no way I was going to get it off, so I decided to take it to the Schwinn shop and have them do it, since the gears would need to be adjusted as well. David and Greg are very nice and accommodating, and finished it in one day.  

The next morning I started to go for a ride and explore into Charlotte County, when I immediately noticed that the cassette was making a chunking sound. Dang, it's not tight. Rather than going back to the house and fix it, I thought I'd check out the Bike shop in Punta Gorda and have them look at it.  After an hour ride on a busy highway of 41N I arrive at the Acme bike shop.  The mechanic was not there, but the owner was, and he said he would look at it. He says he has never seen a loose cassette before. Oh geez. He took it off, put it back one, with my help, and still it was a little loose. I said I would figure it out when I got home, and it was probably a spacer that needed changing. He still charged me $10.00 for his 'service.'  I will not use them again for bike repairs.  I fixed the problem with a different spacer. 

On my way home, I visited an area that I was not familiar with but it was a nice diversion off of Highway 41.

All the roads look alike and in between some of the main roads were gravel roads. Basically I was lost and my water was hot as heck, and wanted to get home. I used the smart phone to get me back to 41.  

No I don't have Bell's Palsy!!  I was trying to show a face of being lost. LOL!

The next day was the Wheels and Wings ride. It's a nice organized ride where I met up with a few girlfriends, Liz and Jennifer. Liz's boyfriend was recovery from brain surgery and he was on this really sweet recumbent. He is a strong cyclist who pulled me along at 26mph for a stretch.   I enjoyed talking with him. I stayed with them, and didn't worry about riding with a "faster" group, give the fact that Liz and Tommy warned me that one of the groups I was thinking of riding with was notorious for having a crash every year on this ride. We finished out the day with about 55miles and endured a down pouring of rain, and rode on those same roads that I was 'lost' on the day before. 

The Cape Coral masters group is a nice group, however the water temperature is about 90 degrees and that is no exaggeration!  Putting out any kind of effort is quite a challenge.  

Monday 7/13/15 Steve provided us with the following practice:

Warm
400
Preset: 6 x 75 kick
Main:
4 x 250 pull
6 x 175 (drill on 4th. lap)
8 x 125 (last 25 fast)
10 x 25 @ :30
cool
200

Tuesday 7/14/15, I joined a new group called the Tarpon Masters in Punta Gorda. 
They have a Facebook page, and will post their workouts there as well. Kerry is the coach. They only swim about 2500 a practice, but the water temperature is MUCH better and their pool is pretty. 

Warm 
2 x 200
Pre set:
12 x 25 @ :30
Main (twice) with fins
200
2 x 100
4 x 50 underwater dolphin streamline. 
cool 200

Happy Laps!