I rode in to work again today and felt great doing it. I kept a nice pace going all the way out to Sterling and never really had anyone approaching my wheel. I went offroad on a few sections to try things out and did a few tricky climbs in loose gravel. Hopefully I can get better at that as my trials on the gravel road last Sunday really hurt me.

Coming home, I didn't feel quite as good early on. My legs were sore and I couldn't get moving for a while. To shake things up I went offroad at nearly every opportunity and suddenly I was feeling stronger and ready to roll. Luckily I started riding past folks and evern found one guy on a Lemond who was moving pretty well. By the end of the ride my legs felt amazing and I was spinning really well. I'm really enjoying riding the nobbie tires on and off the trail--it's letting me find new sections and making the same monotonous trail not so.

I think two days of riding to work is enough mileage for this week with the race in Hagerstown on Saturday. I'll probably ride in on Friday and let Jess pick me up on her day off. Tomorrow perhaps I'll try to get some cross practicing in (dismounts, carrying the bike, feeble attempts at bunny hopping, etc.). Time is definitely limited on Thursdays though.

This Saturday, I'll have a new lens to play with. I wasn't able to get the 70-200mm f2.8 lens this weekend, but I did get a 100-400mm f4/5.6 lens from Penn Camera and that should be plenty fast enough aperture if the sun is out the way it was last weekend.

38km X 2