| Course: | Leschi, Seward Park, Rainier, Renton, Jones Rd, up Cedar Grove, left on Issaquah-Hobart, up Tiger, right on Issaquah-Hobart, May Valley, down McDonald's hill, Renton, Rainier, Lake WA Blvd, Leschi, up Madrona, home |
| Comments: | God, I could not sleep last night... I woke up at about 3:30 and that was it. So I dorked around on the computer for a few hours after realizing sleep was futile and was about to head out for this 8:30 ride that a friend was organizing when I remembered the 8:00 am ride...! I got on the horn and called Greg K who graciously opted to head south and pick me up instead of going north as was his original plan. Am I a lucky guy or what.
I got out of the house at about 8:10 and Greg had said to meet him at Leschi at 8:20. I'm glad I made it.
It was so cold today. My legs felt slow and heavy and at first I thought that my brakes were rubbing. I had just put on new disk brake pads and when I sailed out of the driveway and got to the first red light I realized that I was not stopping... I had to back the adjusters all the way off to install the pads and had not screwed them back down. Crap. I almost literally had to drag a foot as my brake levers were against my bars and my velocity was only changing ever so slightly.
Once I survived that boner maneuver I pulled over and cranked 'em right down. Like too much. So when I got to Leschi the first thing I did was adjust them as best I could. I got it pretty close but in my head my pads were still rubbing ever so slightly. Okay, I could hear them so they were rubbing, just not very much. :)
The pace was a tiny bit faster today than the last few weeks which was good. I needed that. Going up Cedar Grove the group split up a little but that is such a short hill and we got back together right away. Going up Tiger was a different story. I thought I was going to be slow but Greg got on the front and set a steady tempo that separated him, me and Paul from the rest pretty quick. And it felt fine. About half way up I was able to ride past Greg and we dropped Paul on the first steep pitch.
ASIDE - I was noticing that I was breathing almost half as rapidly as Greg. That's not to say I was not out of breath, but Greg was kind of panting super fast.
At the top we waited for everyone and then descended. It was WARM at the top of Tiger. And it lasted almost all the way back down to Issaquah-Hobart.
On May Valley we fell apart. Greg suggested we rotate and it just didn't happen. Gaps opened up, the pace was too fast and then too slow - good grief.
By the time we go to Seward again I was very tired. It seems I can only go about three hours and then I fold. Maybe it's because I only ride for a little over three hours...? You think?
A good ride - super company. |