More miles

Yesterday the plan was almost executed. Riding the 7AM ride had me feeling a little blue, but once we stopped to wait for the 10AM ride to start, my legs were finally ready. But, there's always a but, the weather had something else in mind. The sky had a not so inviting gray look to it, and we were keeping an eye on the road and an eye on the ever changing meteorological conditions. Next thing I know the rider next to me asked "is that hail I feel coming down?". I don't have a problem getting wet (or in this case, pelted by little ice missiles) if the temperature is above, lets say, 80 degrees, anything below that and I will head indoors faster than a Robbie McEwen sprint.

The hail picked up in intensity for a brief period and Jose was wondering what we should do. "Lets push on a little further and then turn around", I said to him and Dan and we continued on, until the first stop sign (the one before the 7 Eleven), where we had determined the turn around point was. The three of us had a close encounter with a 60+ lady and her Chevy Malibu, and when Jose proceeded to "explain" to her that her move was too close for comfort, she started to tell us all about the law and that she knew it all. Her husband seemed to have better common sense and kept quite. But not soon were they moving again that the old fart flipped us the bird. Priceless. The computer showed 80 miles and the legs felt pretty darn good.

Today the Bicycle Place ride got fast almost from the gate and the group broke up earlier than usual. Up Mass. Ave, the pace was good and the A minus or B plus group (depending on how you want to look at it) kept a festive pace even though on Clara Barton things got a bit disorganized. Up Great Falls I found myself on the front with Dani and the rest of the group in tow, so I decided to sit there and set a pace that wasn't going to kill me, but hard enough that everyone stayed behind. Down the park some us went and that was it for the group, as some people decided not to do the park climb and continued on. After a long and hard chase by Dani and his group, I gave them a hand to close the gap to my group and from then on, Dani and I made sure that at least one of us was at the front all of the time.

Legs feel good, even though is taking a long time to get the diesel engine running at a prime level, but I'm hoping that with warmer temperatures in the near future, things will get clicking a lot easier. Jefferson Cup is next week, and then Walkerville and Tyson's Corner. Fun times on the horizon.