Took Beast out for a spin yesterday. I had made a couple minor changes: removing the front rack/bag and the rear fender. This lightens it a bit, maybe 3 lbs, and cleans up the aerodynamics a good deal. It also lightens the steering and lets a bit more road vibe through. Oh, and because it was raining a bit when I was out, means the tire throws a lot more crud in my face, off the top of the tire, and the downtube crud guard does a decent enough job keeping my bottles clean.
On the flats, with no headwind, I can keep a pretty consistent 18-19mph as it was. Honestly that seems pretty similar to the speeds I run with the bag, rack and fender. The front crud guard really does catch a good deal of air, and I remember it slowing me a good 1.5mph when i installed it. But for the gravel event it needs to be on, and I see no reason to not train with it.
I ended up with a pretty flat 71miles, and a moving average of 14.9mph. I rocked out my first 8.3 miles at 17.8mph. Probably my best sprint on Beast.
In all, training is going well. I'm not quite where I'd like to be, with a proven loaded, sub 8hr century. Madison will be my benchmark for that, and I should get out and ride it again soon, loaded. Last attempt was 8:37, it got warm that day, with my GPS showing highs of 96 (not counting the stupid temps seen when stopped)
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