Road tour with the Edge 705

These stats are from a short road tour ride I did at the Sea Otter Classic bike show. The ride was sponsored by Sea Otter Classic, Bicycling Magazine and Mountain Bike as a benefit to the Davis Phinney Foundation. Davis is the father of Tyler Phinney, the 17-year-old sensation who rides for Slipstream’s Under 23 team and is headed to the Olympics this summer. Davis, an Olympic cyclist himself, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease while still in his 30s and his foundation is all about helping others cope with the disease.

My partner for this ride was one of Garmin’s regional sales managers, Karsten. Karsten has been riding, racing and working in the cycling industry for years. And it shows. Though I didn’t dare scream through the downhills anywhere near Karsten’s speed, he was gracious enough to slow his pace and always stay in sight. One of my favorite parts of the ride: witnessing Karsten riding hands-free on a slight downhill, peeling a banana. He might have touched his handlebar once in the whole banana-peelin’-and-eatin’ process, then deftly flipped the peel to the ditch. I was impressed. As we pedaled back to the Laguna Seca raceway, my legs in a cement-like state, Karsten commented that I climbed pretty well. This flatlander from Kansas took that as high praise. But I’m not even going to try the hands-free banana-peelin’. One-handed cycling while snapping photos is my limit.

Thanks again to our friends at Specialized for hooking us up with these beautiful bikes.

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