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.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Funny 'Cause It's True
(warning: contains language inappropriate for young ears)
Can I go riding ?
I'm training for an Iron Man
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Message Received
There are times when we all let life get to us. Personally, I get overwhelmed with stress and start getting impatient with people, my politically correct filters start to drop and I am generally irritated by the slightest things. I also get a bit more aggressive than usual when people are (what I deem to be) inconsiderate. I don't realize it's happening until I do or say something that gets me in trouble.
I realized last week that the stresses of the past couple of months (work, life etc) and the "joy of the season" had pushed me over that edge. It was a sunny Weds morning and since I didn't sleep well, I found myself heading south on 95 for a weekly management meeting in Virginia a little earlier than usual. Let me pause here to acknowledge that I am a bit of an aggressive driver - not obnoxious, but aggressive. A couple years of racing cars will do that to a girl.
Anyway, everything is rolling smoothly until we get right around the ICC construction zone - somewhere near Laurel. Now, I know that traffic always slows in that area. I have no idea why, there are no lane closures and aside from speed cameras, I can't figure it out. Speed cameras shouldn't STOP traffic, they should simply slow it down a tick.
So, I find myself behind a gray Chevy Impala in the left lane going UNDER the speed limit. He's pacing the car in the next lane so I'm boxed in and not very happy about it. I tend to show my unhappiness by borderline tailgating. He finally gets far enough ahead of the other car for me to slide through. Admittedly, I did come a little extra close on purpose to show my displeasure. I intended to pass him and get back in the left lane but now he was pacing me. He pulls up next to me and I look over and clearly ask "WHY?" through the window. It's a small blessing that I've grown out of flipping people off. I drop my car into manual shift and hit the gas to do a clean pass and switch back to the left lane. Looking in my rearview, half expecting this J-O to come up to tailgate me, my heart drops as I see him flip on his lights. EFF. I laughed to myself thinking - well, it was bound to happen.
Having pulled to the shoulder, I watch him get out of his car and literally do the cocky-cop strut to my car. As I rolled down the window the first words out of his mouth were "In answer to your question "Why"; because there are speed cameras in this area and if I get caught speeding, I have to pay the ticket. You sped up to 85mph to pass me and tailgated me to get through (I think he was being generous, I know I was going faster than that at one point). I started to argue with "I only sped up because you were pacing me ..." and then couched it with "but I understand what you're saying". By now I realized that this guy wasn't a traffic-type cop - probably a detective or something judging by his car. He hadn't asked for license or registration. I wasn't getting a ticket but I wasn't pushing my luck. I apologized for my transgressions and he mumbled a "slow it down" as he walked away.
I pull back into traffic, which was coming to a stop directly ahead. I saw in my rearview that as the cop pulled back in, someone nearly hit him and slammed on the horn. Cop pulls off to the side, lets the guy go ahead and proceeds to hit his lights to pull the guy over. This cop was having a tough morning !
I laughed at a rare stroke of good-luck and then laughed at myself for letting things get to me enough to push my normally aggressive but acceptable driving to a level slightly below obnoxious.
Message definitely received.
I realized last week that the stresses of the past couple of months (work, life etc) and the "joy of the season" had pushed me over that edge. It was a sunny Weds morning and since I didn't sleep well, I found myself heading south on 95 for a weekly management meeting in Virginia a little earlier than usual. Let me pause here to acknowledge that I am a bit of an aggressive driver - not obnoxious, but aggressive. A couple years of racing cars will do that to a girl.
Anyway, everything is rolling smoothly until we get right around the ICC construction zone - somewhere near Laurel. Now, I know that traffic always slows in that area. I have no idea why, there are no lane closures and aside from speed cameras, I can't figure it out. Speed cameras shouldn't STOP traffic, they should simply slow it down a tick.
So, I find myself behind a gray Chevy Impala in the left lane going UNDER the speed limit. He's pacing the car in the next lane so I'm boxed in and not very happy about it. I tend to show my unhappiness by borderline tailgating. He finally gets far enough ahead of the other car for me to slide through. Admittedly, I did come a little extra close on purpose to show my displeasure. I intended to pass him and get back in the left lane but now he was pacing me. He pulls up next to me and I look over and clearly ask "WHY?" through the window. It's a small blessing that I've grown out of flipping people off. I drop my car into manual shift and hit the gas to do a clean pass and switch back to the left lane. Looking in my rearview, half expecting this J-O to come up to tailgate me, my heart drops as I see him flip on his lights. EFF. I laughed to myself thinking - well, it was bound to happen.
Having pulled to the shoulder, I watch him get out of his car and literally do the cocky-cop strut to my car. As I rolled down the window the first words out of his mouth were "In answer to your question "Why"; because there are speed cameras in this area and if I get caught speeding, I have to pay the ticket. You sped up to 85mph to pass me and tailgated me to get through (I think he was being generous, I know I was going faster than that at one point). I started to argue with "I only sped up because you were pacing me ..." and then couched it with "but I understand what you're saying". By now I realized that this guy wasn't a traffic-type cop - probably a detective or something judging by his car. He hadn't asked for license or registration. I wasn't getting a ticket but I wasn't pushing my luck. I apologized for my transgressions and he mumbled a "slow it down" as he walked away.
I pull back into traffic, which was coming to a stop directly ahead. I saw in my rearview that as the cop pulled back in, someone nearly hit him and slammed on the horn. Cop pulls off to the side, lets the guy go ahead and proceeds to hit his lights to pull the guy over. This cop was having a tough morning !
I laughed at a rare stroke of good-luck and then laughed at myself for letting things get to me enough to push my normally aggressive but acceptable driving to a level slightly below obnoxious.
Message definitely received.
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