My legs were fresh going up the hill out of Courthouse, but otherwise, I had a hard time getting my legs back under me.  It's been four days off without any exercise so I guess this feeling isn't all that surprising.  I navigated through all the starts and stops of Arlington and once I got out to some uninterrupted stretches, I limbered up.  I also, very happily, picked up a rider.

He was riding a cyclocross bike and had some serious calf muscles.  He was also light, well built, young, and looked ready to roll.  I pulled for a while before the powerhouse stretch and about half of the powerhouse before he went around me.  I pulled him at a lot faster speed than I had been riding previously.  We were easily over 40 kmph.  After he went around, he pulled for a while and then I tried to take a turn at the front again.  That was short-lived, however, as I was sucking wind and he went around me after the hill.  I hung on pretty easily as we cranked onward at 40+.  Drafting is such a wonderful thing.  This dude had it today though.  He's probably the strongest rider I've rode with so far and he was on a cyclocross bike!  My average speed of 32.3 kmph is good to see.  To say I ride to work at twenty miles an hour is pretty cool.  If only we could do something about the road crossings then I could get more sleep.

For some reason, my front derailleur's a bit out of adjustment, so my highest gear on the middle chain ring rubs the derailleur cage.  I've changed the tension on the adjusting barrel at the handle bars, but it's not working this time.  As a result, I'm spending a lot of time on the large chain ring turning big gears.  This is something I've wanted to do for a while anyways, so I'm happy to do it.  The rings on my bike are 48-38-28 compared to 53-42 of the Waterford and a lot of road bikes.  Probably tonight I'll fix the shifting problem, but I'll keep using that big gear until I can turn a bigger one.

The ride home today for some reason was fast. I just started turning that gear and it felt great. I had no trouble dropping a couple drafters and with twelve miles to go, my average speed was 34+kmph. That number came down a bit after going through Arlington, but not much all things considered. Once I got home, I went for a short run to the grocery store to pick up some Hoisin sauce for supper. Felt pretty good once I got over the hills. I'm noticing that I'm more susceptible to side stitches after biking. I will have trouble with races that end with longer runs (ie 5K+) if I don't learn to straighten that out. More miles I say! I need more miles!

37.52 / 1.09.39 / 32.3 / 51.3 / 1748.3
37.88 / 1.09.07 / 32.9 / 54.3 / 1786.2
2 Miles