Finally got it out on a full ride. Joined the Audax Rizal 200km, considered to be the hardest brevet in the Philippines. It's a climb-infested route. I didn't finish, didn't make the last checkpoint cutoff time. Overall, I rode some 180km. With 20km to go and pretty much 12km of climbs, the setting sun and an hour to cutoff time, I decide to throw in the towel. It was a fun ride, very nice weather and lots of scenic views, so not finishing wasn't that big of a deal.
It was a sweet ride. The frame felt good. Not much to say about speeding on flats as the route were mostly climbs and descends. Double the pain but double the fun. The bike is confidence inspiring during descends. I personally usually hold back on my descends as I'm not the most skilled in this department (usually just doing under 40kph) but was hitting 50's on this bike. Went thru a section of unfinished road (lots of rocks) at 35kph and still felt confident doing it. The roadies behind me were just amazed with what I did. 35c tires doing that. There were also a few sections of the road that felt rough on descends but the titanium does absords the vibration pretty nice. At the end of the day, it didn't felt too harsh on the body.
Assessing on why l didn't finish, l came to the conclusion that I should have used my old 38T chainring instead of the untested new 42T. I could've climb faster, not much flat for the 42T to shine. Also did a quick examination on the frame to check for visible cracks or damages, everything checks out well. Bottom line, I love this bike.
A couple of pics from Audax Rizal.
Last pic also in Rizal but not part of Audax.
