Great weekend. Started by rolling a Muffin Ride and I didn't need to go into work afterwards, as it happened... Yay! Awesome Lorraine joined us proving that you can go from Person Who Rides to Work to Person Who Rides With Racers for Muffins very easily indeed. I capped the day off with a trip to Balmer to watch the Orioles spank the Nats, ad drank many drinks with the Designated Cousin of the Rouleur, Pinkeye Pete. Pete's a diehard Yanks fan, but loves good baseball and good stadiums wherever they are found. He was in town for an eye doctor seminar, so we got one of the two on Friday night.
On Saturday, the Shop Ride was a little hotter than usual with 18 souls taking part, including Special Guest Star The Uff Da. She and I were wondering for the first half if there was something wrong with us - we kept getting slightly dropped on all these punchy little climbs. Plus a lot of new guys were on the ride and suffering from Acute Sciuriditis - an attack of Squirrellyness. But then after the halfway point, we ratcheted up the speed to somewhat hard all around, and the Uff Da recovered, as did I. The squirrelly guys who are new to group rides swiftly fell into the hurt bucket and stopped rocketign off the front. After one particular bout of squirrellyness on a long set of rollers, we came to one of the longer hills on the ride and I decided to bust a move, and bust up the group. I did that, and the ride broke into serious racers + 1 new guy, and everybody else in the back pack, which is what I'd hoped for. Climbing around people who are suffering a bad outbreak of Sciuriditis is dangerous, and I'd rather quarantine them when possible. Eventually we regrouped but the legs were softened up enough that there were no further attacks of Sciuriditis and even those with some legs left had only minimal bits left over, with an average speed over 20 on a hilly course. Uff Da and I added maybe 12 extra miles of recovery spin at the end and she asked about the makeup of the group ride. I couldn't vouch for the new guys but the list of regulars who ride, once I thought about it, was pretty impressive - Seibold's road, MTB and cross cred is pretty well established. But we've also got a couple other expert MTB'ers on the ride, one guy who is a regional caliber expert MTB'er, another who is a serious threat at 100 mile events, a couple very solid sport MTB'ers and strong Cat 4 roadies... No slouches in the core group. So it wasn't really surprising when my legs hit bonk state and a stop for a Coke was needed during our long, profoundly uncomfortable spindown. The day wrapped up with some family time in Balmer with Pinkeye Pete, and we had a good wander around the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Cue a 12 hour nap...
Sunday was also a blast, of the sort you get in Mr. Carnegie's ovens. The first tactical error was sleeping late and riding at 10:30, rather than at 8:00. Rolling out of town, the Fire Department thermometer said 96 degrees... and it only got worse, with temps probably approaching 120 on the open stretches of tarmac. I've never been thankful before for a stiff headwind on a steep uphill, but today I was. Two hours, around 30 miles, and a stop in the middle to get more drinks later, I got home. Yep - I drank four large bottles of fluid in two hours of riding for a total of 96 ounces. It was sooo hot, that two or three minutes of a zone 3-4 effort would cause the legs to melt down and just lose impulse power. I was glad just to be able to finish today, and had the collar of Stevil's new bike jersey to thank for it. I remember Stevil's credo: "I'd rather be forgotten, than be remembered for SLLLAAAAAYYYYYYERRRRRR!"
Okay, it doesn't say that but if it did you wouldn't be surprised. Today was the inaugural ride with my new All Hail the Black Market jersey, and it worked out... well, as it should. Nice jersey, looks good, inspirational saying on the collar, EVIL on the front. As I was cruising around the borders of Heatstrokeville I thought about the meaning of not giving up as alluded to on the jersey collar, and decided to hang in despite the fact my face was melting off like one of the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nice jersey, has everything you'd want, and you can still buy one, but just for another week or so. Here. Way to go, Stevil!
So then I hung out with the fam and we capped off the day with some swimming, and then some bi-locational picknicking with 300 of our closest friends, and later with a much smaller and nicer group. A handful of Sangrias drove a stake into the day's heart, and I'm going to go hit the sack before I drop from exhaustion. The upcoming week has me doing Teh Hard Commute on Tuesday and maybe Thursday, Wednesday at Wakefield, and lord knows what else. So this boy needs some rest.
But before I go, if you have some extra weekend to sell me, let me know. I could use more weekends like this and am willing to pay market rate.
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