Short holiday in Germany

Today one week ago my wife and I went to Kronenburg in Germany to spent a short holiday. Since my new 700X wasn't ready yet, I took my Z Pro with me. I'm quiet familiar with the region, I guess this was the 10th time we visited the area. So far all the bicycling I did over there was with my mountain bike, since there are miles and miles of trails to be discovered (and I know most of them by now). I was planning to take my mountain bike with me on this trip, so a couple of days before we left, I took my MB out of our garage and took it for a spin. It had exactly been 11 months since I last rode my MB so I just took it for a ride to see if everything was still okay. The bike was okay, but myself .... Oh boy, did I suffer during that ride !!!
My butt hurt, my hands and wrist were sore, my neck ached .... When I returned from my trip, I told my wife that no way I was going to ride that bike again !!! I put the MB back in the garage and that's were it's going to stay from now on ! Maybe some of you think I'm a baby, and maybe you're right, but I'd like to tell myself that I'm spoiled by riding recumbents and my Z Pro ;-) ! Anyway, when my 700X'll be ready, there will be plenty of time to ride dirt roads again !

Anyway, taking the Z Pro with me meant that I would only be riding on tarmac roads. No big deal eather, since most drivers are very polite towards bicyclists over there. During all my rides I never got cut off short or felt in any kind of danger when cars or trucks overhauled me. When arriving at the top of hills, they all stayed behind me and waited until the top before passing me leaving me plenty of room, something I can only wish for here in Belgium !!!

Just out of Duppach, going uphill again ....

After two weeks of rain, the weather was dry during our stay in Germany, but very cold ! I'm not a wuss when it comes to cold temperatures, but I could not stay longer that 3,5 hours on my bike. Temperatures never went over 20° F during daytime, with a mild, sometimes strong eastern wind, which always feels extra cold. On Saturday I managed to ride 45 miles but I was so cold afterwards, that I wasn't recovered on Sunday. When I rode again on Monday, I had less problems with the cold. I rode my Z Pro for a little over 180 miles during my stay and again enjoyed the CF concept in every ride : I never felt uncomfortable and the bike felt stable as a brick, even when going downhill at + 40mph. I even managed to ride the Z Pro on a gravel road, were the only worries I had was trying not to think of getting myself a flat tire. But the Z Pro handled just fine, no problems at all.

Riding the Z Pro on gravel never gave any problems (here somewhere between Stadkyll and Schönfeld )

New frame arrives ....

It has been raining a lot lately, which means that I did not ride my Z Pro much. To be honest, the only riding these last weeks has been with my velomobile, which is used for commuting. Let's hope it'll start freezing soon ;-)
Last week I received an e-mail from Spincyclz to inform me that the 700X were ready to ship. So I ordered one immediately and yesterday, a small pick-up from Fedex delivered the frame. Is this fast service or what ?! Today, I took the frameset to my bike shop and discussed the hardware with Harry, the owner. I already decided on most of the parts, the only thing that's still in discussion is the kind of brakes. I know that I want disc brakes, but I prefer mechanical. Harry tried to convince me to use hydraulic brakes from Shimano, according to him they are the most reliable at this time and he did not receive any complaints about them so far. Since he could not tell me the exact prices for both types of brakes, but he will contact a couple of distributors tomorrow and let me know. We'll see tomorrow ....