Anonymity

Between the vast amount of time since I've last done a group ride and the lack of identifiable stuff I wore on Saturday (plus I got a new jacket this winter so anyone who recognized my other one would have been left out on that), I think I was pretty anonymous on the 10am ride. This was a good thing in the beginning since I was pretty embarrassing.

Nate and I had gone out early to turn the day into a "longish miles day" and my hands were cold enough to have compromised dexterity when I went fishing through the layers for my Gu flask on Beach Drive. Yup that was me, bobbling and eventually dropping it. Sorry. Nice chase to get back on after that, catching back up very quickly only to get cleaved by the light at Cedar Lane, causing a much longer chase before the Wisconsin crossing. Then my rear derailleur decided to catch a head cold and start skipping at two of the middle gears. I ironed it out with the adjuster enough to make the big ring fully usable.

One of the reasons I like to use a 25 is that even if I don't use it very much, it gives me the 23 to use with the big ring without crossing the chain too mercilessly. I sometimes like to use the small ring on Glen since I'm not much of a masher. It depends who's there, too. If Nick Bax or someone like that is on the ride, you'd better keep it in the big ring. Well, no choice for me on Saturday, big ring it was. No sweat, the ride was really mellow and it was good practice to use more torque than I normally would.

Maybe it seemed so mellow since there were about 1000 people on the ride and I didn't move anywhere near the sharp end until after Travilah. A whole pile of people must have gone out toward Poolesville at the River turn in because all of a sudden the ride got a lot smaller. It got a bit faster on River, I took a long turn at the front on a double riser, Win Elliot attacked the group and then it got interesting for a bit. A couple of splits opened up, I got stuck in a group of 4 behind the lead group of like 8, and knowing that I was going to bail out at the Piney Meetinghouse turn in order to get home I just went full gas to close that gap for the guys I was with. Only one made it across with me. That was like a perfect dose of effort for what I needed that day. Great ride.

Saturday evening was all about cheese, fish and swine. I love cheese, fish and swine. Congrats J & S, sweet joint. Can't wait to get the bike shop working.

It looks like the missus is getting a new whip. She's going from an older, smaller frame to a newer, larger, WSD frame. Someone's got to keep that economy cooking, right? The old stuff is pre-sold, the new stuff comes with the buffer of being able to crash replace the frame I spanked last year, so it's not too heinous an outlay and it'll be a somewhat better fit for her.

The 830 ride on Sunday is a myth. I tried to meet it in Chevy Chase instead of going out to Silver Spring. Swing and a miss. The day was meant to have had a part "A" and a part "B." Instead it just had part "B," which was okay. Just doing part "B" was more amenable to the training plan, while part "A" was more about getting miles in with team mates. Would have liked to get part "A" in, but sometimes zigs turn into zags.

Speaking of team mates, it doesn't look like CJ is going to be one much longer. He's two for two in podiums this year, with a gold and a bronze. House. Casa. Stud.

Wondering what to do for Jeff Cup. Option one is get my stool pushed in by people I'm not ready to race against, option two is to race with the old men who in theory I should be slightly better matched with and option three is save it. Hopefully the melee of registration isn't quite so crazy. The Vint Hill race got filled up pdq, so who knows what all's going to go on.

Lame work schedule starts up again in a couple of days. Not looking forward to it, but it's just a couple of weeks and then we should get to be pretty normal through the end.