Settling In and Other Ramblings

 It's been almost two months since I uprooted my life and moved to Arlington.  I LOVE being in Arlington - once I park my car after work or on weekends, I barely have to move it unless I want to drive to a ride or visit friends who don't live in the area. Considering how much time as I've spent on 295, 495 and 95 in the past 6 years or so - lets just say my move has contributed to "one less car" in a major way.  Not having to commute to see the boy (or feel guilt because he has to commute to see me!) is awesome. 

I wish- WISH - I could contribute with my commute as well.  There are trails that could get me pretty close to work without having to touch a major roadway but, once I get to work, there are no shower facilities.  A good friend suggested a field shower would do but I think I'll spare my coworkers. The thing is, the commute time on the bike is about the same as it is in a car, only with significantly less stress.  I would be better for me and everyone around me if I could swing it.  Ah well, maybe things will change but I'm not holding my breath. 

So, the commute.  Anyone who follows me on twitter or google+ has heard me lament the commute.  I've determined that everyone on the GW parkway must have broken brake lights - they're always on.  The road can be completely clear on a bright, sunny day and ... brake lights.  As a coworker noted recently, 66 is the fire-y pit of hell.  Side roads just aren't made to handle the volume.  There's just no way around it. 

I've also figured out that people in this area do not judge a destination by distance.  Not one person has said - wow, you're commute is only 12 miles - that's fantastic!  Common etiquette down here is something more along the lines of "it takes about 45 minutes to get there".  No one mentions that it's only 12 miles.  I'm not sure if it's simply not relevant, if we don't want to admit the ridiculousness (that must be a word since blogger didn't flag it as misspelled or non-existent) or, and I'm leaning toward this one, we know it will just depress us so we avoid saying it out loud.

I grew up in a lower-middle class suburb where people had to drive everywhere and everyone in your neighborhood knew your name (for better or worse).  When I moved to the Baltimore area, I thought I went through culture shock.  Of course I didn't live in the city so I still didn't really experience city-life.  I'm definitely digging it now.  Our evening strolls through the neighborhoods where the boy and I ponder how on earth people afford these houses have been more entertaining lately as we take in the Christmas light show.  Some are very tasteful and classy.  Others - as my cousin would say - look like Christmas threw up.  I digress.  The one thing that I haven't not gotten used to is how people walk right past you and don't even look at you.  If they're not looking at the ground or their phone, they've got a blank stare that goes right through you.  There are no friendly smiles or greetings and lord help you if you think they're moving over to make room as you pass.  It's odd.  Like people are so alone in the crowd.  I'm sure there's a song about that that I should know.

On to the important part - the riding.  I've been fortunate enough to hook up with a local team that meets for a ride a couple miles from the apartment.  It's great to have some fun peeps to ride with - motivation when it's cold and I'm getting to know some new friendly faces.  They've even been kind enough to humor my ignorance of the roads and lack of a sense of direction - with the boy off doing epic rides in Va/WVa with his boys this weekend, who knows where I would wind up left to my own devices!

The ride success this past weekend was borne out of failure.  The Sunday plan was to head down to the Glen Echo area on MacArthur to meet a great group of ladies for 50 miles or so.  I apparently misjudged the timing or effed up the directions and missed the group.  Would've loved the company going up Angler's.

I did some work out there and remembered that my Saturday group had mentioned they were riding at HP.  On a whim (and feeling a little lonely!!) I decided to head that direction.  I was sooo proud of myself for remembering the way through GTown to get there.  Yes, I know, it's really not a HUGE accomplishment - some of you do this daily.  Remember my whole "directionally challenged" condition.  Anyway, it was a long-shot to actually find them there so, after a lap around and realizing how much colder it is at HP, I headed home.  It turned out to be about 3 hours of chasing rides that weren't meant to be - but dammit, I found my way all by my lonesome and that, boys and girls, is my success for the weekend.

Staying warm

Toasty Warm

Back to cold-weather riding.  Didn't we just do this?  Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about my new thermal bib-tights.   Of course it hasn't been cold enough (yet) to really test them but I've used them twice on early morning rides and they were significantly warmer than leg warmers or regular tights.  Seriously, they may change my winter-riding life.  How have I gone this long without having a rock-star set of winter training bibs? 

So the next task - and I am open to suggestion - is to insulate my hands.  Lets face it, winter rides often end with frozen fingers and sometimes end BECAUSE of frozen fingers.  Unless you've got the uber expensive (and gucci) electronic shifting option, throwing your chain to the big ring when you lack control over your hands can be a daunting task.  I know I've been to the point of not being able to pull the brakes hard enough - that's a fun problem to discover. 

I realize that my winter apparel is pretty old and well-used so I know I need new insulated gloves and liners.  In addition to those, I've used those stick-on charcoal hand warmers but they just don't do the job if it's really cold (as an aside, they're bad for kitties to eat).  They stick on the tops of your hands ostensibly to warm the blood going to your fingers.  They're better than nothing but you still wind up with frozen digits.  Battery-warmed gloves seem like a good idea but they're pretty pricy for a "lets see if these work" exercise. 

You may say - wait a second, you have - and highly recommend - your emotion rollers.  Why do you even have to go outside if it's THAT cold?  This is true.  But I live in a 1br apt now, with a boy who also has a set of emo's.  Do you have any idea the logistics of setting up two sets of rollers in two different rooms, distributing fans and keeping carpet from getting soaked with sweat, etc?  It's hard enough to take shifts during the week - I'll take the out-of-doors if at all humanly possible. 

Anyhoo.  Frozen fingers.  Frozen toes.  It's December already - it's only getting colder for the next couple of months.  Sigh.  Remind me why I didn't move further south?

 Here's a link to one of the first "best of (insert year here)" lists I've seen ... some are really moving.  Thanks to the boy for sharing.

...And Just Like That

- I'm an Arlington resident.  It's almost like the stress of moving, changing jobs, packing up my house, getting a storage unit, bargaining for a budget-truck and negotiating rent for my house never happened.  It's really funny how our minds work - we often forget the pain and hassle almost immediately after the job is done.  It's pretty close to that feeling we get after a super-hard race or training ride. About mid-way through we're thinking - really? I can't feel my legs and this saddle is impaling me.  I do this on purpose?  Wasn't this supposed to be fun?  Immediately afterward, though, we're chatting with friends and teammates, telling war stories and audibly looking forward to the next race. 

My life in boxes

More boxes

All packed up

Ready to go

Luckily I had a hired hand to drive.  Ok, so he wasn't hired but he did drive.

 
That said, I am NOT looking forward to another move.  Most of my stuff is in storage at the moment so the move would be much less painful, but still.  Moving sucks.

My poor cat has no idea what's going on - he just left a multi-level, multi-bedroom house with access to the out-of-doors for a 2nd floor 1br apartment.  I think he's too confused to be angry right now.  He and the boy are currently having a standoff.  Cassius will hiss, run and hide whenever the boy enters the same room.  BUT, when the boy has food for him, he's all sweet and meow-y.  This is my life.

Week 1 of this new chapter went fairly well.  I started a new job in Tyson's - great position with a cool company but the commute just might take years off my life.  66 is a disaster, almost no matter what time I hit it.  I THOUGHT I'd be going against traffic - everyone heads into the city as I'm heading out to McLean.  Doesn't matter.  Between construction, lanes that drop off just as the on-ramp comes on and - lets face it - absolutely retarded drivers, I've run out of four-letter expletives.  I've moved on to stringing together multiple expletives.  You can get real creative-like if you want to that way!

Aside from the commute, though, it's been awesome. We're working on a routine and so far I think it's going well - the boy can comment if he thinks otherwise!  I get home by about 5 so I have plenty of time to go ride my bike (with my aforementioned MagicShine) and I'm learning ways to get to HP, where the various paths lead etc.  To top it off, I can walk to wholefoods, starbucks and any variety of shops or restaurants.  In Baltimore I could walk to the park -which was a nice park but there's no starbucks there.

All in all, I'm a happy kid.  No more Friday and Sunday night trips between Baltimore and Arlington.  A new job that I'm pretty excited about.  Lots of riding opportunities.  Civilization.  Despite the pain of packing and leaving my home of 9years and a fantastic group of people I worked with for 6years, I'm very happy to finally be here.

Game Changer

game-changer (noun)

(North American English)

a person, an idea or an event that completely changes the way a situation develops

Wow.  I'm not a religious person but the phrase that kept going through my mind last week as I traversed the patapsco trail at 515am was "let there be light".  My magicshine was amazing - I made it through the park a full 2 mins faster without even trying, mostly because I didn't have to keep slowing down and speeding up to see the road.  It was a beautiful experience.

I can't believe I'm so excited about a bike light to ride in the dark. 

While the magicshine is a game-changer for night/early morning riding, I have even bigger news to top that ... drumroll, please ... watch out DC/NoVa, 'cause here I come!!! Yep, after many hours spent driving back and forth to visit friends, attend events and post up for rides/races, I'm FINALLY moving! 

My last day at work in Baltimore is this Friday and the new gig in Tyson's starts the 24th.  Between now and then I'm packing up my house and readying it for my new renters, finding temporary storage while the boy and I figure out where we want to wind up while preparing myself for temporary apartment living after 9 years of having a 3br townhome all to myself.  Sheesh.  Do you have any idea how much ... stuff ... you aquire in nine years?  I'm finding stuff that I had no idea I owned! 

Oh, and then there's the new job to ready for - new commute, new systems, new culture.  For someone like me who likes my routine, this is enough to make my head spin.  BUT, I am completely stoked about the new gig - lots of opportunity and so much to learn, I'm super-excited to be able to partake in the local ride scene and, above all, I am thrilled to know that I will not have to continue taking years off my life in travel time. 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of starting off with the newly-revived Sunday 10am ride.  Complete with a shot of hot coffee to start. Note: taking a shot of HOT coffee is not all it's cracked up to be.  While I'm not on form by any stretch of the imagination, I did manage to hang in for about an hour before watching the group ride away from me.  Frustrating, but I know I haven't been riding that much and packing/moving boxes every night after work takes a toll.  (excuses, excuses). 

After I got over my frustration with myself (with much patience from the boy) we proceeded to enjoy another hour or so in the warm sunshine, hooking up with another ride when we saw Jose in the group and taking that ride back into the city.  A quick shower and a death march to a little hole-in-the-wall pizza/sub shop (death march as in I wasn't sure I was going to make it!) and we were happy campers.  It was a gorgeous day as we sat on a park bench enjoying some caffiene doing nothing in particular.

The whole time I thought about how great it's going to be when I don't have to worry about fighting sunday traffic with idiots on 295.  Now THAT is a game changer!

Just Ridiculous

When the alarm went off at 5am this morning, I squinted in the general direction of my window and saw raindrops. My first word this morning was: O'hellno. As in, there's no way I'm riding at 5:15am, in the dark, on wet roads and on wet leaves through the park. Despite wanting to just turn off the alarm and sleep another two hours, I managed to talk myself out of bed to investigate further. Upon opening the window, I realized the roads outside my house were mostly dry and the temps were warm. I cursed myself for being investigative and proceeded to pull my act together for another morning ride.

The road leading out of my neighborhood and down to the park is lit - sporadically but just enough. No real worries there except for the stray cat or a new pothole. It's a whole 'nother ball game once I get into the park. There are lights here and there for the first half mile, then nothing, then one or two random lights in the second mile. After that, it's pitch-dark. Under the canopy of trees, moonlight doesn't even shine through. (hence the need for the aforementioned magicshine, which can't come soon enough!).

Today was extra special because the leaves are making a mass exodus from their respective trees and papering the entire path. I couldn't make out where the path was vs the gravel on the side vs the darn forest. If I had a heart rate monitor on, I'm certain some of my highest spikes of the morning were during the time I was trying to ride through the park. If anyone could've seen my thought-bubbles, the dominant theme would be: this is just ridiculous.

Alls well that ends well, I guess - I made it to the ride with a minute or two to spare, everyone was pretty civilized as we traversed the dark and wet roads and I had the chance to play with the big boys a couple of times. At work now and trying to refrain from falling asleep on my keyboard and/or devouring anything in sight.

Speaking of ridiculous - this is a great article on CNN (re: our broken government) that I happened upon a couple days ago. I tweeted it (I don't tweet much so that's big for me!) but thought it was worth posting on here as well.

Happy Thursday - It's almost Friday!!

Long Overdue

A bit of a whirlwind around here - haven't had time or inspiration to write a witty blog. Instead I'll just highlight a few things, post a few pics and hopefully get my blogging-groove back.

A long vacation (to include Labor day weekend) was much needed, though I could have done without the 12-hour drive each way. While the east coast was getting hammered with rain, the boy and I were complaining about cool temps and wind. When we found out what we were missing back home, we pretty much stopped complaining. We napped, rode bikes, explored some of his old stomping grounds, ran and napped some more. Since we were staying with his parents, he was being a good boy and doing "squaw" work (his words, not mine) so I snapped a pic or two to memorialize the occasion. (I am so in trouble for posting this- you have no idea).


The house was full of puppies - both the ones that lived there and ones that brought along their human owners to visit. The wolfhounds were especially comical to me - at any random time and any random place, they'd lay down and 1) take up half the walking space and 2) look like they just keeled over, only missing a chalk line to truly live up to a bad, made-for-tv puppy drama.

Clancy passed out in the foyer

Claire passed out in the living room

Conan, the very needy Doberball.
Human legs added for entertainment purposes

I didn't get pics of two other puppies that visited with us but Liaka and Desayles provided cold noses and entertainment as well.



Other items of note - we survived the hurricane with no water in my basement- YAY! I did lose power for a day or so but from all accounts that was nothing compared to what some other people dealt with. The next week's rain, however, dashed my hopes that the basement water issues were resolved.

The morning ride has provided much motivation over the past weeks to get my arse out of bed - the 5am wakeup is not for the faint of heart. This group is hardcore - I roll up to the ride start and it looks like a Christmas tree with all the lights blinking. Of course we need it now - the sun doesn't come up until at least an hour into the ride (an hour and a half into my ride). I have a decent tail-light but my headlight is pretty weak. I'm slightly more advanced than "trail by braille" through Patapsco Park - slightly.

My strategy once the group ride starts is to try to keep one of the other riders with the flood-lights behind me to light my way. I FINALLY broke down this week and ordered my magicshine, with recommendation from the boy. I should be blinding on-coming traffic by early next week.

I absolutely NEVER thought I'd be buying a headlight to ride in the dark on purpose. Oh, how times change.


Speaking of change - stay tuned - there's more to come in the very near future.

TGIF- 8/26/11

I could really get over this whole "extremes" thing we have going on in MD. Flash floods, horrific downpours, earthquakes (we don't have earthquakes in MD!!!) and now a hurricane is scheduled to make an appearance this weekend. I don't know what we did to piss off Mother Nature, but WE'RE SORRY!



This past weekend I had the pleasure of participating as part of the Routing & Signs crew at the LiveStrong event in PA. Honestly, I did this as a favor to a friend who needed live bodies to round out a last minute squad to post signage along the route. More honesty: I worked this event despite the fact that it's associated with LA.

Anyway, we experienced the extremes on this trip as well, from the reaction of the locals to weather. Friday our fearless leader made friends with someone who objected to him temporarily parking on the side of the road in front of their house to post signs. Really? Locals in one section demanded that no signs be wire-tied to existing street signs - because unstable signs on stands is so much better? Before the ride got started, some locals took down various crucial directional signs - thankfully we figured it out before the riders came though.

On the flip-side, many locals - including the fantastic Landis Store folks - were super supportive to riders and our crew (the restaurant is worth the side-trip if you're in the area).

Then there was the monsoon - we were in a pickup truck so rain sounded like it's pelting the roof. I stated to my partner that it almost sounded like hail. Oh, there was no "almost" to it - it was genuine, nickel-to-quarter-sized hail. Seriously?!?!?


After a long day of taking down signs on Sunday, we arrive to the load-lot to sort and store for the next event. The minute I pulled in, it started raining. Not - oh-what-a-relief-rain - no, it was - are you kidding me?- rain. Apropos way to end a long and arduous weekend.

As for this weekend, I'm hoping the weathermen are off the mark on the hurricane. I wouldn't mind a couple of nice, long road-rides outside and really don't want to worry about water in my basement. If someone has some pull with Mother Nature, I'd like to call in a favor...

Rain, rain go away

The plan for my Wednesday-morning ride was to time the trip from my house to the TMR ride start. The question wasn't whether I could ride to the start (as all the other TMR riders do), it was more of - what time do I have to be out the door, which leads to the more important question of - what time does my alarm need to go off?

I was feeling pretty spry after a good run on the Tuesday edition of TMR ... I can already tell a difference in my riding just from the couple group rides I've done recently. Rolling out around 645a, the skies were still a little dark and the air felt heavy. It felt like rain but the roads were dry so off I went. I made the right turn from Bonnie Branch onto Montgomery lane and very shortly had ChildTime Daycare (TMR start) in my sights. Satisfied with the run and starting to do math in my head to answer the questions above, I made the turn around to go home. I felt a little drop of moisture on my arm. Figuring it was just sweat, I pressed on, wondering if I had time to go down Ilchester instead of the out-and-back.

I made the executive decision to get home the fastest way possible due to darkening skies so out and back was the route of choice. It started raining as soon as I made the turn. It wasn't a downpour but given my recent anti-falling motto, I wasn't thrilled. The run out was mostly uphill so the run back was mostly a fast downhill. In the rain. On fresh pavement. I don't know why, but fresh asphalt makes me nervous - I think it just LOOKS slick and I am admittedly gun-shy.

Anyway, by the time I got to the bottom of the hill it was a full-on downpour. As I high-tailed it through the park, I saw several walkers who got caught out. Two other women on cruiser-bikes rushing home. A daily park-walker who was prepared with an umbrella. Several mountain bikers standing under a bridge, waiting for the rain to pass.

I saw no reason to stop - my recently cleaned caad10 was already wet and dirty from road spray. My new headlight was flaking out b/c water was getting into the housing. I had squishy-puddles in my shoes and my kit probably looked like an inappropriate-for-young-eyes bodysuit. Everyone I passed looked at me like I was crazy but I had to get home to get to work. I quietly gave thanks to the boy - he put gator-skins on my wheels a few weeks ago. Changing a flat in this monsoon would have been a debacle.

... where did i leave my umbrella?

The minute I rolled into my neighborhood, the downpour turned into a drizzle. Sigh. I promptly sprayed off all the loose debris from my bike and then looked around for newspaper to stuff in my shoes. I had just taken out the recycling so I did the next best thing - opened them up and left them, face down, on the a/c vents. Up to the shower and off to work I went.

I'd have been more bitter if it wasn't so warm out. I'd have been less bitter if I hadn't just done a rockstar job of cleaning my still-new ride.

This morning the plan was ride to the start of TMR and branch off half-way through to get home and into work in time for an early meeting. My alarm went off at 515a. I looked out the window and saw wet roads and drizzle. I made the executive decision to reset the alarm and went back to sleep.

(in case you are wondering: 35mins to TMR start-point. this means out the door by 520a. this means up by 5a. heavy sigh)

The Ellicott City Underground

Last Tuesday I happened upon a group ride during my morning jaunt through Patapsco State Park. I had no idea what was going on as I delicately stepped through the 25 or so riders during a re-group at the entrance to the park. I gave a polite "excuse me" and "hello, there" as I passed through - they looked at me the same way I was probably looking at them ... as in, what the heck is going on there?

I continued on, knowing they'd catch me at some point on Lawyers Hill. They did, about 3/4 of the way up. Everyone was very polite as they cruised past me -cyclists can be total jerks in that position so I appreciated it. After I crested the top/caught my breath, I chased up to the guy nearest me and asked what was going on. Oscar (as I found out his name later) patiently answered my questions as we pedaled and while caught at the stoplight on Montgomery Road, I got a little more information/encouragement to check out this group, known as The Morning Ride.

I continued on my way, solo, absolutely astounded. I've been jealous of the DC/VA crowd as you guys have so many options for group rides just about any time or anyplace you can sneak out on your bike. I've been here for almost 9 years (no idea how this happened) and always traveled to DC/VA group rides, traveled to Davidsonville rides or trained relatively solo. How is it possible that this many cyclists live in my general vicinity and organize rides in my backyard and I never knew about it?!

After getting all the relevant info, I posted up for the Thursday morning ride. I am not racing right now (and thereby have not been specifically training) but I have been riding. That said, training relatively solo or marching up survival climbs does NOT amount to group-ride fitness. Also, I haven't been on a group ride since my last little ... incident ... so I had no idea how comfy I would be on unfamiliar wheels. All this I knew this going in but I had to face it at some point, so why not now?

The alarm went off at 515. The meeting point is about 35-40mins away by bike and I just couldn't stomach seeing 4 o'clock twice in one day so I drove to the meeting point. I felt like a total wuss because everyone else rode in. Ah, well ... I've gotta ease into this! A nice size group showed up and we picked up more along the way. The ride was fast but relatively safe - I know the roads but I don't know the acceleration or sprint points so I was caught out a few times. More than one person paced me back to the group during the ride (thank you!!) but overall, I was pretty happy (given all my excuses above) with the ride.

Maybe this isn't such a local "underground" cycling community - maybe it's been right there and I just haven't been looking. Either way, I'm absolutely stoked at the option of doing this ride once or twice a week and discovering all-new motivation for riding and training.

If a Tree Falls in the Forest...

Hypothetically speaking, if a tree falls across the road, missing a cyclist on her morning ride by about 2ft as she skids to a stop but said-cyclist does not have a camera/phone for photographic evidence, did it really happen?

How about if the aforementioned cyclist went back this morning and got pics of the aftermath?

the road in question
(you can see my new ride on the guardrail near the aftermath)

the tree stump

the aftermath: the cut-up tree on the other side of the road

I only had one earbud in so I heard some crackling but thought it was a car behind me. I slowed up a touch, pulled all the way to the right and suddenly grabbed the brakes hard as I saw the tree come down. I won't pretend that I didn't shout an expletive (something akin to HOLY SH*T!) as I skidded to a stop.

After I caught my breath, I started laughing. Yes, I realize this is not a normal reaction.

I was laughing because I knew I didn't have my phone so I'd have no proof (I almost grabbed it on the way out but thought - who am I going to call? Most of my friends and loved ones are at least an hour away!).

Mostly I laughed because my luck must have turned around - lets face it, there's no doubt that I would have been going two seconds faster and that tree would have taken me out if this happened a year or two ago with the luck I was having.

TGIF 7/22/11

I hope everyone got in their pre-Lost River Race ride this morning 'cause things aren't getting any cooler today. (thanks to Peggy for sending the above- started off my work morning with a giggle)

It's always good to start my day with a ride but today still it felt like stepping into a sauna the second I opened the front door. Luckily it's a bit cooler in the park - I was only dripping with sweat instead of sweating buckets. It was an easy-ish ride this morning so I took the time to snap a couple pics of my morning views -not a bad way to start the day.

entrance to Patapsco St. Park from Ilchester Road



view of the path leading into the main park

And under the category of Random:

A pretty cool photo of my trusty Specialized Tarmac (which I'm in the process of selling) from our last trip to Skyline. The current proposed caption from the photographer:

Even the native wildlife was impressed by your numbers

What else ya got?

FeedZone Etiquette for Racers

This past weekend I had the pleasure of revisiting Feed-Zone-Mania at the Giro di Coppi. I had long forgotten (suppressed?) the pleasure of being pelted with bottles and having random riders try to schwig the bottles you hold out for your riders. I've never had so many friends and admirers amongst the 1-2-3 men as I did when I was holding out a cold waterbottle - I felt like a celebrity the way guys were shouting my name that I didn't even know KNEW my name.

I've been on both sides of the feedzone and given the chaos I witnessed on Saturday, I thought I'd throw out a couple of general rules for the feedzone(for riders who don't know - or maybe conveniently forget):

1. Be prepared. With few exceptions, everyone is there specifically to feed someone or a team. No one is basking in the glory of the feedzone only to enjoy the pleasure of handing up bottles to whomever might want them.

2. If someone is feeding your friend/teammate(s) and you might need a feed, ASK your would-be feeder BEFORE the race starts. It's really special if you actually hand over the full bottle that you'll need.

3. When one person is feeding multiple people do yourself and everyone else a favor: space yourself within the pack. This is especially important when the feedzone happens to be on a downhill.

4. If you throw a bottle at me, try not to HIT me with it and I will try not to throw it back at you.

5. Feeders are not responsible for seeking out all of the team's empties that got thrown in the feedzone. We do our best to pick up ones we know were "ours" but if we miss one you'll have to get over it. If you're that upset, find yourself a new feeder (and good luck with that).

6. If we're holding out a bottle and you know damn well it isn't for you, don't be a jackass and try to schwig someone else's. You aren't going to make friends with anyone that way and those of us who are more experienced will yank it back so it could get real ugly for you, real quick.

7. THANK YOUR FEEDER. Standing in the middle of a field in BFE waiting for a race to fly by every half hour so you can dodge bottles, fight would-be bottle thieves and generally get berated by riders when you - gasp- make a mistake or the rider misses his feed does not rank high on anyone's list of things to do on a random summer weekend day.

(steps down, once again, from her soapbox)

Endings and New Beginnings

There's an old cliche that goes something like: To every ending there is a new beginning. Ok, so that's a little deep for bike-stuff but that's the best cliche I could come up with.

Over the past several months, I've been in the midst of cleaning house - this has meant several trips to goodwill, a few trips to the landfill and essentially getting realistic about exactly what one girl actually needs in life. During the fall, I sold 2 of my six bikes - including my beloved giant advanced. It was painful but necessary - who needs 3 roadbikes, a fixie, a mtb and a tt bike? I couldn't even say that I owned six bikes with a straight face.

Fast forward to early June when the guilt of not being able to ride my vespa finally got to me. I loved my vespa. But over the course of almost 3 years, I just didn't ride it that much. Race injuries, frequent trips to DC/VA, the weather etc ... there was always a reason that I couldn't ride. Here was a beautiful machine just sitting in front of my house waiting to either be stolen or to rust away. I posted it on craigslist and within two days it was sold. Sad day but I was ok with it because the buyer was so thrilled to get the machine.
At the same time, I posted my Seven on for sale. Another gorgeous machine, bought when I was still too green to truly appreciate it and barely used in the past 3 years. A day later, a gentleman called me from out of the blue at work to ask if he could buy it. You see, I had put a link to a picasa album for more pics of the Seven on the posting. Which - unbeknownst to me - showed my name on the pic album. The guy checked to see if I was on LinkedIn (I am) and found out where I worked. It would have been a little scary if he wasn't such a nice guy! I gave him an A+ for resourcefulness and we finalized the deal in that phone call.

After speaking to the cute boy, who incidentally would like to be known henceforth as "his highness prince mack-daddy the muthafrackin' badassest", or "the boy" for short, we decided to take a road trip since the resourceful Seven-buyer lived in Asheville, NC, which is a place we wanted to visit anyway. So the aforementioned long-weekend road trip was actually a multi-purpose adventure. Aside from escaping the general DC-VA area and visiting friends who relocated in NC a while ago, we were also delivering a bike to a very-happy-for-hand-delivery new owner. Barry, good luck and ride fast!

Two other endings in the offing:

I'm selling my Specialized Tarmac (52cm, sram force - shoot me a msg if you want details)


and I haven't posted it anywhere yet but I'm also selling my Giant Bowery (size small - fixed gear/single speed). Again, shoot me a msg if you're interested.


And now ... the new beginning ... after this weekend I will be sporting one of these:
Picture this with sram red, my SRM and some sweet wheels. Hell yeah! Thanks to FreshBikes (formerly known as Conte's of Arlington)... Here's to new beginnings!!

At Least It's Not Monday

Three-day weekends are awesome - everyone knows that. When a holiday lands on a Friday or Monday, we all rejoice, mark our calendars and await the upcoming debauchery. I lobby for these weekends on a regular basis but no one listens to me.

Really, what could be better than a 3-day weekend? A FOUR-day weekend, of course! Complete with a last minute road trip, visiting friends, conquering another mountain or two with the cute boy, watching stage 1 of the Tour, discovering a new town, eating good food, sampling a caramel oreo (good but not as awesome as one might think), breaking my sram shifter (again), sight-seeing, movie-seeing and fireworks-seeing.

I'm sure I missed something in there but, suffice it to say, going home after fireworks last night and waking up to the alarm this morning was not fun. Maybe a four-day weekend is a little too much. I'll be needing another one - for the sake of research, of course.

And the Madness Continues

It may come as some surprise to those who know how long I've been racing/riding but in all that time, I've never once taken a ride on Skyline Drive. I've heard about it. Former teammates used to make the trip. I know it's literally right across a valley from Old Rag, where I love to hike. The trouble is that I live in Baltimore and Skyline is over 2 hours away. I have amazing roads outside my door and can hit all the ups and downs I want on my Howard County ride, a mere 20mins away. So, I never went. Until this past weekend.

Wow. It's absolutely beautiful out there. Noticeably cooler as you gain altitude, which is a blessing this time of year. There were some pretty nice climbs followed by fast downhills - the trouble was that we were doing an out-and-back so I knew every downhill meant an UPHILL when we came back so I couldn't completely enjoy those on the way out. Luckily, I had a cute boy pacing me up the climbs (and stealing sign sprints when I wasn't paying attention) - that always helps the mood and keeps it interesting. It was a really nice day on the bike ... now I understand what the fuss is all about. Maybe next time we won't have time constraints and can do the full loop. Maybe I should be careful what I ask for!

After that ride, I was happy to know I had a scheduled massage coming up. I have been making a habit of treating myself to a massage once a month. The accountant in me can rationalize it since I'm not currently paying for coaching or a gym membership. Anyway, I found an awesome guy in Columbia that does a fantastic job and appreciates my sense of humor/sarcasm (this is a requirement). If you're looking for a good masseuse in the Columbia area, look up Well Being Massage Studios. Yuri is awesome.

So, this past Monday I had my monthly massage. We chatted a little before he got started but I normally enjoy peace and quiet during the actual massage. At one point, Yuri asked me if I was going anywhere on vacation this year - odd, but okay. I gave a non-committal answer (because I honestly don't know) and went silent.

A minute later he awkwardly explained that he was just wondering if I was going to even out my (self described) ridiculous bike-tan lines.

There are certain moments that bring the bike-madness into focus for me. This was one of them.

Sigh.

Back in the Saddle ... Again

I have to admit that I had lost that lovin' feelin' (for the bike) over the past few months. A little tired of being a comeback kid, wondering why I'm suffering so much, wondering why I am spending so much time and money on this sport and wondering how it was ever "fun" in the first place. I hung up the bike, knowing full well that there was a chance I might never get back to it again.

Taking a few steps back, I got some perspective. I've figured out the madness that is bike racing sets in slowly - boundaries get pushed little by little until your life completely revolves around the sport. I don't know exactly when it happened but it definitely happened that way for me. I was having FUN and the suffering was well worth the reward. Teammates were friends, on and off the bike, and it was all for one and one for all. I realize now how unique and special that was and I wish I had appreciated it more at the time.

When the sport bites you once or twice (actually, it's usually the pavement, other riders or other bikes that do the biting but you get the point) you get fired up to go back at it harder, faster, more. I thrive on those situations - you know, the overcoming against all odds thing.

After a while, though, even that loses appeal. Overcoming WHAT exactly? After a couple of back-to-back, season-ending injuries and all the bike drama a girl can take, I had to wonder if all the suffering and re-suffering was worth it, knowing that everything can change in a millisecond and often through no fault of your own. Yes, being in the wrong place in the pack is considered your own damn fault and I take that but really - look across the start line in your next race and process that your safety is in the hands of each of those people. Scary, no?

After the TOC, I was more than a little inspired to go fast again. My first local race as a spectator was BikeJam, which didn't do anything for my whole aversion-to-crashes thing. At the end of the big-boy race, the EMT tent looked like a war-zone. Thankfully I didn't actually SEE the actual fiasco - just the aftermath.

A nice spin through Ellicott City the next day and an awesome ride up and around Mt. Weather on Memorial Day helped a lot. I was mortified to be sucking wind so badly but also started to see progress - a good motivator.

This past weekend I was a spectator at the RSR race in Va. Toward the end of the big-boy race, Jose (XO/Battley Harley) landed on the ground right in front of us. It's a small miracle that no one ran over him as he was splayed out on the pavement in the middle of the course just after the last turn. Watching the whole thing unfold, I literally felt ill - scared for Jose as riders were dodging him on the course while also revisiting the scars from my last incident. Jose is a solid, well respected and motivated rider - it can really happen to anyone. For the record, I have it on good authority that he's no worse for the wear - definitely a relief.

I've recovered quickly from bad bike incidents before but I think this last one will need more time and patience if I want to get back to racing. I will not race timid - that's a bad recipe for everyone involved.

In the meantime, I am going to get busy working on my panda-tan and getting that lovin' feelin' back.

ATOC - The Final Days

Ok, I guess the title sounds a little more ominous than it needs to but you get the point.

I was fortunate enough to be on the back crew for the last two stages of the event. I say "fortunate" because after a couple of days on both crews, I found that I liked the hectic pace of the back more than the more leisurely pace of the front. Besides the hectic pace and being able to sleep a touch longer, the back crew also gets the chance to see all the team cars, check out rider sign in and interact with riders/crew before things get underway.

Wandering around team cars and seeing the riders was really a study of people. I don't tend to get all wound up over celebrities and I don't think that just because someone rides a bike real fast that they are good people. But watching other people nearly run over themselves or each other in order to get a pic or maybe an autograph - that was a show.

Stage 7 started and we were flying behind the caravan, cutting down signs and picking up sprint/kom markers. We had procured a bunch of sample-size jelly-belly's so I was throwing those out to the kids that were watching the race. Amazing how happy people will get over a couple of jelly beans (that said, jelly belly beans are so much more than just jelly beans!). All was going well until we pulled up to a course arrow on a sharp turn. I hung out the window to cut it down and as we pulled away, my illustrious driver cut it a little too sharp. The truck bed hit the sign, creating a vertical crease/dent. The crowd cheered as we extracted ourselves from the sign and continued on ... the damage was done but we still had a stage to finish out.

The huge climbs went slow but the descents were wicked - hair-pin turns, no guard-rails, fans on either side of the road - all of this in a pick-up truck with a ton of sandbags and random signs affecting the weight distribution. I had faith in my driver but it was still a white-knuckle run down the mountain. We made it down and our front team dutifully had the 1k blimp up and running by the time we got there.

The Tour has an "uh-oh" guy ... the guy you call when you have an uh-oh. Considering all the vehicles in the Tour and all the miles they drive at sometimes mach-speed, the uh-oh guy could conceivably keep kinda busy. Thankfully he said the damage from the sign that jumped out in front of us was pretty minor and after filling out an accident report, we were off and running for the final day of the race.

It was well known by this time that I heart Andy Schleck. Not that I totally sweat him - I just think he's so darn cute. Our team had procured a Leopard-Trek waterbottle and hat from the feedzone and it was a known fact that I had dibs. I'd give up anything else that we might have dug up, but I was all about the Leopard-Trek stuff. I mean, with Andy, Frank, Fabian and Jens all racing in the same colors, who COULDN'T like the team??

Anyway, I was lucky enough to be with a "get sh*t done" kinda friend. He put us in the path of Andy when he went up for rider-sign in. I thought we had missed him but as he went rolling past us, he stopped to talk to a ref in between the cars. The next thing I know, I have Andy signing my credentials and then I'm standing next to him for a picture. I'm well aware that we caught him right as the race was about to get underway and he probably couldn't have cared less - yes, I was probably THAT person - but I was a happy kid as I said thank you and walked away.

The race got underway and -wow- the scenery was fantastic. We had these long drags of switchbacks so we could see virtually the entire caravan. There were guys abandoning almost from the gun - I think the first one we saw was less than 5 miles in. It had been a long week for those boys. All was going well and we were coming in for the finish ... There was a course arrow pointing to the final circuit on the right so we did as we always do - my illustrious driver jumped the curb and I climb out the window to cut the sign down. Unbeknownst to us, there was a grate sticking out from the curb and right as I cut down the arrow, there was a huge sigh of air from the front passenger-side tire. Do you have any idea how much air those huge tires hold?

Again, cheers from the crowd as we pulled away and limped as far as we could to get out of the way of traffic. Unfortunately, we limped right into the middle of an intersection - that was fun. Being a rental truck, we had no idea where to FIND the jack and I've never had to winch-down a spare tire (then again, I've never had a flat in a pickup, either). A cop came to block traffic (thank you) but couldn't really help. Then a couple of guys on skateboards rolled up and offered help. Apparently the one was an expert - no, really, he worked at an auto-shop of some sort. He helped a lot and once we got the jack put together, things went swimmingly. Off we go again, with a quick call to Mr. Uh-Oh and a wave to the crowd. Our tour was over. Very fittingly, given the way it started.

ATOC Day 6 & 7

It's been hard to find time to keep up with all that's happening during this week ... the last few days I've been up pretty early with the start crew, putting up course signs, measuring out 200m markings, putting up the feathers you see at the sprints and KOMs ... this is NOT easy work, kids!

It's well worth it, though - once we finish our respective jobs up front, we get to grab lunch, talk with the crowd, take pics and eventually see the finish come through the 1k blimp that we put up. Even though they blow by in a half-second, it's still pretty damn cool to see Andy, Chris, Jens (so sad he had to abandon), Levi and all the others who do, at the highest level possible, the thing we all love to do.

The sheer logistics it takes to put on a race like this is unbelievable. The stats from an early-race meeting included: 1,000 vehicles rented to outfit our caravan and workers. The caravan is over a mile long to include lead vehicles, motos, vip rides, team cars, police, ambulances ... and that doesn't include the 5 cars we've utilized to set up and take down signs as the race rolls through. Over 70 hotels will have hosted various members of the race organization. Two start cities even had hotels DONATE all the rooms to the race. These people absolutely love being a host city for the TOC.

Relatively speaking, after the drama of starting this year's TOC the last couple of stages have been logistically uneventful. Hiccups along the way happen but nothing major. It's kind of like organized chaos, only without real organization but everything just seems to get done in the end. Frustrating at times but very rewarding when we can help a fan or a random visitor understand the race or get to the best spot to watch.

More when I have a moment to update.

ATOC update day 4 & 5

Trying to hit  highlights - its late and our morning starts early tomorrow...

- Squaw Valley = super cute but super snow-y ... too slick for stage 2 start. Start time delayed, race shortened to cut out Donners Pass and start place moved to Nevada City.

- Plenty of time to walk the quaint little tourist attraction of a town. They were so excited to have us there (last year they were the start city for an ATOC stage).

- FINALLY started a stage - I was in the back of the caravan collecting the course signs and markers along the route. Holy fast-pace: if we lose the end of the caravan by taking too long to pull down signs, the road closure ends and we're stuck navigating through the crowds and/or regular road traffic.

- I have never received so much applause and approval for taking down signs. Seriously, I was cracking up the whole time.

- Hanging out with Bob Roll in the hotel laundry/business center. Very funny guy, even remembered meeting me and the girls in PA a few years back. Offered to give me his rider-list but remembered he left it in the car.

- Up super early today for our first full stage. Out with the early crew to put up course signs and markers. No applause or approval for this job.

- AMAZING scenery on this stage. I mentioned out loud that at times it was like driving into a post card. First time to CA; this wasn't what I pictured, it's even better!

- if you ever have the experience of riding through one of those inflatable arches, please thank those operating it. Its not as easy as it looks, kids.

- Met Phil and Paul and yes, have pictures. Phil didn't want to introduce me to Paul because he wanted a pic with me all by himself (he's a smooth one, that Phil)

- Because I was on the early crew, we had time for a late lunch and hot-out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls from Lollipop Cafe in Modesto. Worth getting up early for.

- Because I was on the early crew, we had time to watch the circuits downtown... those boys were flying! So sad that Jens got taken out. Super pumped to see Andy.

- Live streaming of the race on my cell rocks.

More tomorrow, complete with some pics. 

ATOC Day 2 & 3

Wow. What a couple of days. The time difference was phenomenal on Saturday, allowing me to sleep in until 11am (EST) to make our 8am (PST) meeting time. The weather was still good, but things were cooling down and there was a lot of chatter about that 4-letter "s" word (snow) but we decided that denial was our best option so we started prepping for the first stage.

From ATOC

We made our game plan over a good breakfast and quickly went down to this "beach" area to sort signs and start loading trucks for distribution on the course. The views were awesome but we didn't really take into account the wind - so we quickly relocated to a much less scenic but more efficient parking lot. Oh, the glamour of bike racing.

From ATOC

From ATOC

Finally, we drove the entire course, setting out course arrows, marking sprint and KOM lines and generally exploring the course. The view from Tahoe City:

From ATOC

There's a phenomenal coffee shop very near the sprint line so we all know I was a happy kid!

After an "all hands" meeting at 9pm (? that late the day before the first stage?) we made it a pretty early night with the start team's impending 5am wakeup call. Then came Stage 1.

Holy cluster. Thats the only way to put it. Here's the nutshell version: we woke up to this outside our hotel balcony:

From ATOC

The call was supposed to be made by 9am whether we'd go off as planned. We knew by 730 am that the start would be postponed until 1:15pm. The weather was a complete mess at the start so we were sure the mountain and descent would be treacherous. We start pulling course signs to adjust for the shortened course. Then we hear they're eliminating the neutral laps so we have to adjust signs again. With nothing else to do, we sit in the hotel lobby (with everyone else) and ... wait.

From ATOC

Finally we're in the caravan just waiting for the start. There's the National Anthem and the call ups. The snow and sun have been alternating for the past several hours and at this point the snow was winning. We see the moto's start to roll out, then I see some riders. Ok! Ready - we're gonna finally get this party started!

From ATOC

But the caravan didn't move. We start seeing riders pop out of the parking lot of the hotel and I briefly wondered who screwed up and missed the start of the race. Then the call came over race radio about how we were going to disperse the caravan, where the motos should meet, which roads would remain closed until things got back under control. The race was off.

Now we have to go retrieve all the signs that we put out (for reuse in the next stage). We're going up toward the KOM and the weather is deteriorating FAST. I had heard that the riders protested the start and if they did, I totally support the call. We were following a big group of moto-marshalls when about 12 of them wiped out on a snowy, icy part of the descent. It was lucky we were going to slow and could stop before running them over. Luckily no one was hurt but can you imagine how the cyclists would have fared up there.

From ATOC

We stopped and directed traffic around the mess while they picked up bikes, assessed bike and bodily damage and determined how they would make it down to the fire station to regroup and get rides to their respective hotels.

Several plows and an hour later the moto's actually got back on all of the operating bikes (there were a few broken rides) and more or less coasted down the hill to the fire station. That could have been a lot worse.

We made sure everyone was square and headed on our way. Just getting up to speed, we saw two cyclists on the side of the road that resembled popsicles. I had seen them pass during the moto debacle at least a half hour earlier so they must've been standing there freezing for what seemed like hours. We stopped to pick them up and I'm not sure I've ever seen such grateful cyclists. The ice and snow had frozen on their wheels, brakes etc ... they couldn't even spin the wheels. We gave them lunch and dropped them in Tahoe City, finally heading on our way to reunite with our crew.

What a show.

ATOC - Day 1

I have been fortunate enough to land a pretty sweet gig helping out with the routing and signs crew at the Amgen Tour of California.

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to be in for - all I knew was that I'd likely be in one of the follow cars and the crew essentially set up and tore down courses. I figured - why not? I've never been to CA and being behind the scenes of a pro-race could be really cool. So, here I am, typing this right now on my phone from a quaint little lodge in South Tahoe on the eve of the first stage.

The trip out went as expected. Spending 8hrs - a full workday- playing planes, trains and automobiles is enough to make anyone lose some personality. I did have a partner in crime to travel with, but he spent most of the plane ride(s) trying to sleep. The one moment of panic came after we were already in the air on the first flight. I knew our connection was in Denver but the pilot welcomed us to 'a non-stop to St. Louis'.  At that point there was nothing to be done but I wondered how the super-duper security at BWI could possibly let us get on the wrong flight. Eventually we asked the stewardess (that had as much personality as those bland, processed cookies she was handing out) who looked at us like we were crazy but assured us we were on the right flight.

As an aside, when did airlines start hawking Monster energy drinks?

An hour layover in Denver gave us enough time to grab lunch and off we went to Reno.  I walked out of the walkway into the airport and didn't go 10 ft before seeing the first set of slot machines.  Welcome to Nevada! We both had a couple of quarters and figured we'd drop one in. Hey, when in Rome, right? Then we realized these slot machines don't take coins - what is this world coming to!?!?

Fast forward to meeting up with the rest of our 8-man crew ... great bunch of people with a collective wicked sense of humor. This is going to be fun!

Pick up official clothing. Pick up credentials. Sign forms for driving rental vehicles (in our case, brand new F150s). Start loading the gazillion signs and posts etc we'd need.  Finally food was in order so we went to the hotel casino/restaurant ... I forget how lucky we are in our area that you can't smoke indoors ... by the time we were finished, it was 1230am local time - 330 my time and I was fading fast.

I can't figure out how to post pics via phone yet ... day 2 update tomorrow.

The Ride That Wasn't

Those that know me well can say a lot of things about me (disclaimer: nothing they say is binding in a court of law), but the one thing everyone knows is that I am super-disciplined when it comes to my workouts. I have been known to rise in the mornings long before the proverbial roosters crow and stay up way past my witching hour to fit in a workout. During my tenure on my previous women's team, I was usually one of the instigators of outdoor rides despite the cold winter weather. When teammates or friends join me for a ride in my neck of the woods, they know to be prepared for an epic journey.

The dusting of snow on Saturday prevented my weekly 65mile (+/-) ride ... we all know I've hit the deck a few too many times in the recent years and I'm so not going to tempt fate. The second the words ice or snow are uttered, I'm out. A two hour ride on my rollers (have I mentioned lately how rockstar my e-motion rollers are?) gets the job done but it's just not quite the same as hauling my off-season bum over the hills, so I was bound and determined to get in the weekly ride with my unnamed training partner on Sunday.

Yeah, I knew it was going to be cold, but I'm tough. Yes, being cold is one of my least favorite things in the world, perhaps second only to lack of sleep (that's not just bad for me, that's bad for everyone in my path). Dammit, I was going to get my ride in.

I arrive at our meeting point at 10am, as planned, completely ignoring the thermometer on my car that reads 24degrees. I commence putting the wheel on my bike, resetting the SRM, layering the vaseline on my feet and my face, breaking out toe-warmers and hand-warmers. There is a nagging voice in my head (one of many) that reminds me that my "Oh-Hell-No" temperature was 32degrees. I ignore the voices. My partner-in-crime is going through the same motions and neither of us say a word. Neither of us want to be the one to call it.

So, off we go, stubborn pride and sheer idiocy intact. Did I mention the wind on Sunday morning? Looking at the weather afterward, windchills were in the low teens. WAY below my Oh-Hell-No limit. No words are exchanged but I'm thinking that this little jaunt is going to be a death-march from the get. We are about 5mins down the road and I am already losing my fingers to the cold. That's with 2 layers of gloves (including a wind-proof layer) and a hand-warmer. I finally break the silence with "You know this is insanity, right". Response: "Yep". About two minutes later I call it. Something to the effect of "This is stupid. What the hell are we doing? I'm already losing my hands and we're not 10mins into this ride."

We loop around and head back to the cars. Good thing because it took me the whole drive home to get full feeling back in my hands. Who the hell suits up for a friggin' bike ride in 14degrees? Who do I think I am??!

I take off my bike shoes to drive (also remembered to take off the helmet - I've found people look at you funny if you're wearing a bike helmet while driving a car. Not that I know that from experience or anything), head back to the warm heat of my house and my beloved rollers. I pop in a fantastic Spinervals workout - Have Mercy. It's fantastic because it features workouts from various Spinervals videos from the beginning so the bikes, the kits and the hair-do's are all entertaining. You can catch several local hot rods in all their trainer-glory. And it's a killer workout. I go from frostbite to melting - sweating buckets. This is funny because I had a thin layer of vaseline on my face, anticipating windburn on a cold winter ride (as an aside, it also helps snot slide off your face if the occasion comes up). Indoors, the vaseline simply lets sweat slide down your face in sheets. Then you wipe your face with a towel and things get real nice and gooey.

Two hours later, having switched over to the Ravens game after 1hour of the workout video, I was toast. 4hours on the rollers in one weekend is more than enough. During that time, I made peace with my inner-idiot and decided that this one was out of my control (I can't tell you how painful it is to say something is out of my control ... really). So there you have it, the ride that wasn't.

Riding My Way into 2011

Happy New Year !

I was lucky enough to end one year and begin another in the best possible way - on the bike ! A short (too short) trip to NC this weekend found me riding on Friday in knee-warmers and arm-warmers, quite a shift from the Michelin man look we've all been sporting these past few weeks in the DC/MD/VA area. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to ride WITH Ken and his friends - a great group of guys. 60+ miles in 60+ degrees is near heaven this time of year. After a quick nap, a 2-hr yoga session with Laura helped to work things back into place seeing as I hadn't done a good, hard ride like that in weeks.

You could tell that our New Years Eve crew was comprised of mostly cyclists - everyone was either betting that someone else wouldn't make the early ride (8:15) or they were goading each other into more alcohol to make sure the later ride (10:15) would hurt. We kept it pretty low-key but had a great time. After a 3+hr ride and 2hrs of yoga, I knew I would be no good if I started drinking so I was in fine shape for the New Years Day ride. At least as far as hydration goes. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I suffered toward the end of the 40 miles - many thanks to Louie and Chris for limping home with me.

After a cluster of a drive out of DC on Thursday (don't ask), I decided to head home on Saturday to avoid the return-to-work exodus on Sunday. It was a good move - traffic was nearly non-existent until I hit Quantico and even then it wasn't bad. As an aside, why - oh, why - do people insist on riding in the fast lane when people are passing on the right ? Why do they pace the middle-lane cars who are doing the same ? And, if there's no one in the TWO right lanes, why is everyone in the left lane ? It was amazing to watch traffic stack up behind these drivers - I honestly spent a majority of my drive time in the right lane to avoid them !

Yesterday I joined with an un-named rider for my 65mile loop out of Howard County to Frederick County. The weather forecast said rain until 10am but it rained well into the 11 o'clock hour. Didn't matter - it was warm enough to start and we both wanted a good ride so off we went, even in the light rain. That came back to haunt me as we were finishing up - temps were dropping and I couldn't feel my feet. Another half hour or so and things might've gone in a bad direction. As it was, we finished the ride almost the exact same time as the last time we did it (almost a month ago) ... that doesn't sound like much, but given the prior two days of riding/yoga/riding/traveling, I was pretty darn impressed with myself. I'm not going fast yet, but I don't have to - I just have to "go" right now. About 170 miles - all up and down, nothing flat - in 3 days to end 2010 and start 2011.

I'll take it.