Bicycle refurb results in really smooth ride

Over the winter I kind of let my bike fall into a state of disrepair. I decided after a bad ride not long ago where things were squeaking and cracking sounding to take it in for a tune-up and just told the guys there to "make it as new as you can." I ended up with tightening of cables, some rust removal, a new chain, and a whole lotta lube all over the place.

And the result on my first ride since then was like night and day to the last one that I did.

I wasn't exactly pushing it on this ride. In fact, this all seemed rather slow paced by my standards but I was focused on a cooldown day where I wasn't really going to push my self to any limits and instead, just feel the bike out and see how the changes affected performance.

Let me tell you, bicycle maintenance must be really important because this felt completely different than the last time I went out riding.

You can see here that I never really exerted myself and honestly, there wasn't much opportunity for me to do so anyway. There was a ton of other people around and only when I hit the street bike lanes along with traffic was I able to get any real speed up. But then again, because of the expert changes to my setup and the 21 gears I have at my disposal, none of this really seemed at all like hard work at any time. For me to not enter a zone 3 at all for 90 minutes is pretty impressive.

But then again, maybe I am actually getting more fit as well, that is always a factor I like to consider as a possibility.

My speed wasn't going to win any races but it also wasn't piss poor either. I was moving pretty good at some points especially when I was on the roadways. The bike paths wind in the city and I think this is done on purpose to keep people from truly gunning it and injuring themselves or others.

I still kept a decent pace the entire time and due to the summer heat, I was plenty sweaty and tore through 2 bike bottles of water as well.

That reminds me, I was initially annoyed when the bike shop put two brackets on my bike for hydration but now I can't imagine having only one. That was a wonderful little mistake that I was too shy to tell them "I'm not paying for that" at the time.

Any slowing down was not by my own choosing, but we have an abundance of traffic lights in Chicago and I have to stop at them as well.

By the time I got home I could feel a bit of a burn on my right knee but that is something that has been bothering me for a while now.

I have truly had my eyes opened to the importance of bicycle maintenance. I had started to think that my bike was a piece of junk even though I had paid $600 for it. But as it turns out it just needed a tune-up and that has made a ton of difference.

I recall a book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and I suppose it applies to bicycles as well.