First - thanks to AVC for yet another great race at a cool new venue. Nothing but positive feedback - the course was fun, fast and safe ... after Pot-hole Poolesville, we would have been happy with just about anything - but Fort Ritchie was a fantastic surprise.
Michelle and I planned to get in a good ride Sunday morning before the monsoon began. We both had family obligations for Mother's Day (yes, there is life off the bike!) so that made for an early start to the day. Michelle owes me one, 'cause I got up at o'dark thirty (click here for a pic of o'dark thirty) to make my way to her place for the ride. Somehow, despite the fact that it is MID MAY, we still had to pile on layers. Legwarmers. UnderArmour. WHAT ? What happened to spring ?
Its an amazing thing that happens around this time of year. Yes, I know it was in the 50s yesterday. Yes, I know we happily trained in temps in the 20s and 30s (masochists) during the winter. Yes, I know we should be thankful for 50s. But NO. I wasn't. And I won't be. I found myself considering an indoor workout instead of "braving" the "cold" temps. I think I have met my capacity for layering up, psyching myself up and physically getting up for a cold ride. This is the real reason I drove to the Frat House to ride - if I hadn't, I might not have ridden outside. When people found out that little tidbit of info, they'd point and laugh and maybe even call me a sissy.
So, we polished off our coffee and clipped in for a relatively low-key ride. Riding through RCP, I thought I caught a stick in my wheel and stopped to adjust my magnet - what I thought was the source of the "ting - ting - ting" noise I heard after running over aforementioned stick. Much to my chagrin, I actually broke a spoke. Seriously ?
Luckily, we were less than a mile from The Bicycle Place. Michelle used to work at TBP - its good to "know people"... we were able to drop off the broken wheel, borrow a non-broken wheel and get back on our way. The timing couldn't have been better for two reasons: first, the spoke had punctured my tubular (go ahead, ask why I was training on tubulars) and my tire was going flat as we pulled into the shop. Second, TBP ride was just gathering, so the shop was actually open on a Sunday morning. As an added benefit, we got to see Aziz (DC Velo), Beth and a couple of her new C3 teammates, and Eli (Harley) as we were passing through. I have never done TBP ride and had no idea that it was so popular - I wished we had time to go play with everyone but family duties called ... gotta chalk up brownie points while I can since they forget what I look like during race season.
Lessons learned:
- throwing a spoke sounds very similar to running over a stick.
- its good to know people. or to know people who know people.
- Mike at The Bicycle Place is super-awesome-cool.
- i should check out different rides in the area.
- training on tubulars is brave. or stupid. either way. (Not really a lesson learned, i already know that. circumstances beyond my control. but still.)
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