Palisades

Another scorcher of a day today, but at least sunny. Still didn't want to ride my normal loop, so I drove just across the river for a little scenic riding. To my elated surprise, SRAM was running a demo day at the shop I was going to meet my dad at. After speaking with a rep, I managed to get a pair of Zipp 404 Firecrests on my bike for the day. Call me crazy, but I wanted to try out the wheels on my bike instead of an S-works Tarmac SL4 with New SRAM Red and Zipp wheels and finishing kit. Headed down to the River Road which, as it turns out, is more poorly paved than Scotland. You read that correctly, I found a road worse than Scottish ones. I'm amazed too. Stretches were particularly cringe inducing seeing as I was on US$2500 wheels that weren't mine--but they ironed out a lot of the bumps and holes quite nicely, carbon wheels work much like a carbon frame: flexible in the right ways, stiff in the right ways. Nothing describes how these wheels rolled. They just wanted to go fast. They felt like they were slipping through the air; they held speed so incredibly well I felt like I was constantly on the brakes just to hold a constant speed. The ride was pleasant, if hot again. Rolling hills were a challenge but nothing savage. Fun day in the saddle, and I'm now most likely very loyal to Zipp, the wheels were incredible.