I hadn’t been on my bike since the overloaded ride from Vancouver to Seattle.  I pulled a trail-a-bike (one wheel, handle bars, peddles…) with a 95 pound kid and 80 pounds of gear, including the trailer.  It was squirrelly and scary trying to peddle from dead still, and I will never do it again, but I can say that my bike has never been so smooth once I got above 10mph.  It was like I had installed dampeners on the steering and suspension. The trail-a-bike is off and now for sale.  I switched my chainings and rear cassette back to the pre-suffering setup late last week and brought my bike into work for a ride home.

Holy CRAP!  I almost tumped over 3 times before I got both feet on the pedals.  I couldn’t keep my bike going in a straight line – like I was seriously drunk.  This is a bike that I have put 11K miles on, It feels like part of me when I ride, and can tell when my seat or bars are moved a fraction of an inch.  It took me almost three miles to get it all figured out and control the bike to the point that I felt comfortable.  Thank God that I was on a nice wide paved trail!  If I would have been on the road I would have packed it up, called the wife, and caught a ride home.  It was scary.