I love cycling, but truth be told - I love all the tinkering, and frivolous purchasing, just as much. Trawling eBay for bargains, looking at websites, reading reviews, it's just as cathartic as actually being on the bike. In idle moments, your imagination can just drift, as you wonder about changing some small facet of the overall geometry of the bike, and try to imagine how much better your experience will be, as a result.
Thus, it's time for a new stem. I went from a 100mm, to a 90mm stem. As you can (hopefully!) see from the photo, it's a Felt stem - the same as the original frame. Alloy, superlight, nice and stiff. Plus, it matches everything else, which is crucial for....well, style, I guess. But seriously, on the turbo trainer, "compressing" your stance slightly, seems to pay huge dividends. there's less worry about aches and pains on long rides because I can't particularly be arsed to keep going past ninety minutes. And it does seem to help with power output, and comfort when you're on the hoods. Maybe out on the road, the handling could be a little more twitchy, but I'm not on the road! This bad boy came from eBay, and it was brand new, fitted perfectly (as it replaces a stem that's exactly the same in all other respects except length) and cost about a tenner. For all of the daydreaming about results, the fiddling with my setup, and the feeling of satisfaction that you get when you chase an idea - I'd say that represented decent value for money.
I've got a bit of a head cold for today (my first since the pandemic!) and consequently, it's a rare "off" day, but I hope to try and get a recovery ride in, tomorrow. I'll let you know how it feels.
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