Losing Contact

Instead of going racing today, the 10am ride was the choice. I wake up wicked early during the week, but I don't know how other guys drag themselves out for the 7am ride.

Coming out of a rest week, I didn't really know what to expect out of myself. I did a ride last night in the park, Ross/Ridge/Beach loops, and was about to hammer out 6 of them at good pace after taking a few mellower warm up laps. This morning I felt fine and so decided to test myself a bit.

Every time I've done the 7am ride, which admittedly is only a few, it's been actually harder than your standard Cat 4 race, by a good bit. The only annoyance is the stops and lights and all. The 10am is the same way, only a bit less of an edge. I think the route is a bit easier than the 7am, since you don't have that brutal Mass > go balls to the wall along Clara Barton > hammer up Angler's > hammer up Great Falls > hammer it up Brickyard lunacy. The rollers after Falls are pretty challenging on the 10am, since people tend to go after those pretty hard. All told, I was expecting to get a race effort in during the 10am.

Out Tuckerman, things were all cool but you could tell a couple of guys wanted to go. A small group got away from the rest but we got stuck in the light at Falls, where everyone else caught up. A guy from Harley, a guy wearing BBC kit but who I think rides for Harley, an Artemis guy and a guy in white kit from a team I hadn't seen before looked pretty ambitious. A DC Velo guy joined us somewhere along the way. Onto Falls, things indeed heated up, with those guys, 2 others and me getting to the front. On the rollers, that group got away for good. The rollers went well enough, the false flat at the Esworthy turnoff was brutal but short, and by River I think we were all comfortable.

Then I lost a contact lens and pulled off. Sucks.

I rode smart, took all the turns I could when I could, begged off the ones that would have put too much of a hurt lock on and generally did only what I needed to. I had the horsepower (pony power?) to get where I needed to when I needed to be there, which I was psyched about.

We drove cars all afternoon. I don't believe in giving the salesman anything but the ride of his life when I test drive a car. The small VW's are a panic to drive. If you see me in a bright orange Fahrenheit edition R32, you'll know I've lost my mind. It's an unelievably cool car.

Georgetown plays for the Big East title tonight. It's a bit of a surprise to see tem there right now. They've played awesome in the tourney. Roy was sick, but Jesse Sapp is driving the bus now. PE Jr has also been adding a ton lately. Sweet. Theo Huxtable on Pitt has been pretty money lately too.

I have no idea if I'm riding tomorrow, the weather's going to suck.