Is it Saturday? Or is it Monday?

Ever have one of those days where you'd just like to go back to bed and start all over? Today started out that way, but it's getting better. So my alarm was set for 6AM this morning. Yep, 6AM on a Saturday. About 5:30, I woke up and had that friggin Gnarls Barkley song "Crazy" in my head. It was driving me . . . well . . . crazy. About 5:40, I got heart burn. Must have been the Thai food at Ayothaya last night. So I said f-it, I'm getting up. I got up and chomped down some Tums to alleviate the heart burn. I then went on a quest for clothes. I was trying to find my long padded spandex biking pants. No luck. So I started looking for my padded spandex biking shorts, no luck there either. So I finally settled on some non-padded spandex shorts. (Don't worry, I wear basketball shorts over them so as not to offend). I was supposed to meet Brandon and Steve at the trail head this morning at 7AM for a 30 mile ride. So I sauntered out into the garage at about 6:05 and got my shoes, gloves, helmet, heart rate monitor and skull cap together and threw them in the car. I got my license, insurance card and health insurance card and threw those along with some AccelGel and Clif Shot blocks into my seat pack on my bike. I grabbed my water bottles out of the fridge and loaded them into their cages. So far so good. I grabbed the white lightning and lubed the chain. I got the tire pump and pumped up my rear tire to 100psi and tightend the nut on the presta valve. I moved to the front tire and got it pumped up as well. As I tightened the nut on the presta valve, I heard a distinct PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. Son of a . . . . so I loosened the nut hoping that would stop the leak (hey, it was 6:15 in the morning.) No joy. So after a few good words to start the day, I debated just going back to bed. The I popped my front wheel off and grabbed a couple of flat head screw drivers, deflated the tire the rest of the way and commenced changing the tube. Fortunately my last order from Performance bike included 6 tubes for the ol' steed. Now it's been about 20 years since I've had to replace a tube on a bike, but I guess old habits die hard. So in about 10 minutes, I had the new tube in and the tire seated. I gently tightened the nut around the presta valve and began pumping. I got her up to 100 psi and took the bike off the stand. I loaded the bike onto the bike rack and headed out. About 10 feet into the street I heard a WHUMP! I looked up through the moon roof and the bike was leaning at a 15 degree angle. More fun words. I got out, took the bike back off and adjusted the front wheel holder on-er and reloaded the bike.

I made it to the Meeker trailhead at just about 10 minutes to 7. Brandon, Chuck and Steve were already there. I put on my gear and we headed out. It felt like we were lolly gaggin' out to South Prairie, but when we arrived at the Espresso stand at just about 15 miles, our moving time was only 1:07. Not bad since the way out is all up hill. I wasn't feeling it all the way out there, it was definitely a slog for me, but I kept telling Steve, the only thing that keeps me going out, is knowing that it's all downhill on the way back. So after chugging some water, downing an AccelGel and popping a few clif shot blocks, we were back on the bikes and heading back. I don't know why, but the way back felt like work too. I kept looking at my cycle computer saying to myself "Only 10 more miles . . . only 8 more miles" After we got through downtown Orting, we settled into a nice groove though and our mile splits were in the low 3 minute range. We were averaging about 19 - 21 MPH which was good. I just wanted the thing over today. At about mile 28, I was coming around a corner at 19 or so MPH and didn't want to lose momentum, so I kept pedaling through the corner. Well I guess I went a little too low and my right pedal caught the pavement. I felt my back tire kick out to the left. Fortunately I didn't go down. Blood and a broken ankle would not have made my day much better! I got back to the parking lot at about 1:57:30 moving time. So a couple minutes under two hours. I'm OK with that for not feeling tip top for the ride. I think had I been better hydrated and more awake, I could have shaved another 2 or so minutes off that time. But it was 30 miles and I did make it through and that's all that counts.

After chatting a few minutes in the parking lot, I had to cruise home and take a shower to get ready to come out to Thornbury to sit site. So here I am. I'm pretty sore after today's ride. But I feel good that I did it. I left my Garmin USB cable and dock at home, so I can't upload my GPS data just yet to see how this compares to other rides, but maybe later tonight. I'll post the map here when I do.

Oh, one cool thing is just about 2 miles into the ride, we came around a corner and startled a young buck deer. He bounded along the trail just in front of us for awhile before cutting over. It was neat to see.

Have a good weekend!