Facing an hour and a half on the bike Monday morning can be daunting. But rolling out of bed is usually the toughest part. I feel like I need to start getting a lot more sleep if I'm to continue my training regimen of 38K of biking a day, with races on the weekends. I'm starting to feel a bit rundown. Checking my resting heart rate would really allow me to keep an eye on that, but I've been notoriously bad about that since college. I did eventually get out the door this morning around 7a. Jess stopped by, so we left together--on our very different routes.


Rides to Work 

I wanted to show off my new tires and the aero covers at work, so I left them on to ride in. Most people don't know about the sounds that real disc wheels make, so nearly everyone is fooled by the look of the covers. From a distance they are completely indistinguisable from real disc wheels. Pat had a good laugh over the look of my "tricked-out" hybrid, but the laughter only increased when I told him about my victory.

The ride itself was pretty fun. I picked up a drafter just before the powerhouse section. He got my blood pumping for a few miles but I eventually pulled away and settled back in. To my surprise, he returned around the Reston Parkway. About 90% of the time, most riders that I have a chance to ride with turn off long before I ever get close to Orbital or to Courthouse. So having this guy follow me that far and actually stay with me overall was out of the ordinary. I wasn't too happy I'd let him catch up though, and he was a lot tougher to shake the second time. Except for those sections of 40K+ speeds, I kept the pace at my usual speed of 30 kmph.

At lunchtime, we heard about a new bike shop opening in Ashburn, so since Pat had driven in, we had to check it out. To my pleasant surprise it was a new Spokes Etc. This was my first time in at a Spokes. They carry Specialized and Trek mostly with some Lemonds and random other brands mixed in. Basically they are pretty high end and their storefront was immaculate. The repair area was outfitted with all the latest Park Tools gleaming from pegboard. Very impressive. I got to try out a trainer and a Cycle Ops stationary bike equipped with a PowerTap meter. Word is that I can't put out 700W.

I did pick up a pair of commuting tires. I took the cheapest tires they had and those were Continental Ultrasport 700X25c. They were $20 a piece--a little bit more than I should have spent but hopefully these will last a while and keep me from damaging my $45 race tires. Not to mention keep me from having to fix flats on the way to work everyday!

The ride home was fairly monotonous. I did leave at 5p, so that was nice. The sun was out more than it has been recently, but nothing brutal. I tried to spend more time on the third chainring turning the big gear. I think I'm able to use it more effictively now, but I also feel that I'm still caught between rings.

I received a very interesting offer at work today about buying a bike. The bike is made by Waterford Precision Cycles and has Dura Ace Components and Syntace aerobars. I've forgotten the name of the headset maker. The bike also comes with two wheelsets--one of which is three spoke tubulars for racing. This whole set I estimate around $5000 at least, so when he told me he was trying to get it out of his basement and he'd take $900, I was immediately intrigued. Hopefully I'll get to see it and take it for a test ride in the next few days. The one drawback from the deal for me is that the wheels are 650's. I don't really like the smaller size, but for this price I may have to stomach it.

Running tomorrow?

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Odo
38.39 / 1.18.11 / 29.4 / 48.5 / 1593.3
38.36 / 1.16.56 / 29.9 / 51.2 / 1631.7