With the rainy weather over Chinese New Year, that just started when the build of my Velocite Millennium Elite SRAM Red bike was completed, I stayed indoors most of the week. I regretted not purchasing a trainer. The rain finally let up yesterday and I decided to go out on a ride tonight.
It felt good, but I was slow, compared to my fastest time last year. I wanted to leave earlier, but I had to ready the bike for the ride. This meant transferring some of the gear over. It took longer than expected.
Still, I haven’t trained much this year and receiving a bike was the perfect opportunity to start up again.
Most of the bicycle path is now lit, making it safer for everyone. Since it was “cold” for the locals, the cycling paths weren’t clogged with cyclists, runners, and strollers. It was a pleasant ride. I didn’t ride too fast since this was my first time on this bike and I didn’t want to crash. There is some construction on the path near Yonghe and the smell is as bad as ever.
Back to the “cold” weather. It was about 12-13C in my opinion. I was wearing only standard summer cycling clothes, nothing else. I found it a bit chilly when I started out, but I warmed up soon enough. Tomorrow, I’ll probably put on an extra layer.
The Millennium feels responsive, light, nervous at times. It’s stable and easy to keep the balance. It accelerates quite fast. The Velocite MONC50 carbon fiber tubulars performed well. There was some wind, but I barely noticed it. You have to modulate the brakes though and be aware that it might take a bit longer to slow down, especially compared to disc brakes on MTBs. My route wasn’t completely flat. There were some cobble stones and other types of pavement, but the wheels ate them up without a problem.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with it. The SRAM Red gruppo worked well. I have standard-sized chain rings, but I’m mostly in the flats, so for training, it’s fine. I’ll have to adjust the front and rear derailleur on Tuesday, but before that, I want to go out for another 50-75 km tomorrow.
A lot of people mention the noise of the cassette. The SRAM Red cassette is hollow, so it makes more noise that standard ones. It’s fine. Sure it’s a bit noisier, but the added performance and weight savings is well worth it.
The bike is fast, nervous, stable. It’s also very comfortable. I didn’t ride it for long, only an hour or so, but I had no pains. I couldn’t ride at full speed because it had been a while since I rode at night. Luckily I didn’t, because there was some construction on the bike paths which I usually use.
Compact frame, sloping geometry, makes this ideal for training. Titanium is perfect for me, as I’ve had a few spills last year and wouldn’t want to break a carbon fiber one while training.
I have a standard chainring. That’s all we had at the shop, so that’s what I was stuck with, but it didn’t matter much since I mostly ride the flats. Front derailleur needs adjusting, but otherwise, it was a good ride.
25 km – 43:11 – 34.75 kph <- down from 42.86 kph @ 34:55 in August
* * * * *
Running
weekly km count: 0
monthly km count: 0
yearly km count: 0
Cycling
weekly km count: 25
monthly km count: 25
yearly km count: 25
memoirs on a rainy day 
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