Today we embarked on the first Bill Cusmano Memorial Spin. Since he broke his collarbone last Friday, the keeper of the Muffin Ride was absent today. Like Dana said last week, "Death, taxes, and Bill on Friday." So I guess Bill's dead to all of us for a while in the bike world. Dana was there along with a couple others and we headed down the trail at the appointed time.

It seems like we can't buy a Friday without cold and windy weather these days. It hit us pretty hard again at along the river, so Dana picked up the pace quite a bit from the usual. I was happy to follow suit and get out of there quickly. Ken met as along the way as usual and Matt Niemerski and another Coppi met us on MTB's at the Key Bridge.

The forecast for the weekend says more of the same with a wind advisory through Sunday. Should make for some interesting racing . . . Speaking of racing, it looks like I'll be able to go ahead with my plan. My achilles has responded well. On the ride this morning, I had only minor stiffness and no pain, further confirming my hope that the high seat was causing the trouble. Standing up to ride feels fine now. Of course, I'll reevaluate after I ride the 25 miles to the race and again after each of the races. I'm excited for camp and I don't want a silly training race to ruin that. If all goes well, two weeks from tomorrow, I'll be racing my first true road race!

Cautious optimism will always be the way to go when dealing with my tendons but I'm encouraged by what I'm feeling.