I'm Contagious

Another Poolesville, another flat. It happened ahead of schedule this year, on lap 2. Actually it wasn't supposed to happen this year - I flat on even numbered years and generally do okay on odd years. My bad juju even extended to Paul, who got stuck in a crash about 1 mile into the race. Someone ran over his front wheel. Looks like it was a bigger dude, too. Fire up the means of production I have to build him a new front.

Thanks to Jim W for droppoing me off at the tube tent, and thanks to the Spokes Etc guys for hooking me up. Those guys were BUSY. Lots o' flats.

Fortunately the bad vibe did not extend to the rest of the household, so we were able to afford lunch.

Paul and I banged out 45 or so at warp speed (he has just the one speed) after we got sorted out. The biggest bummer of the wholeflat thing was that I wanted to get the full race worth of hard mileage in, but still got about 65 in for the day, and honestly riding with Paul is kind of harder than pack surfing a 1-2-3. Sure there are those moments when you think you are going to die (I sprinted harder out of turn 1 in lap 1 than I normally ever do, in any circumstance), but the first two laps were pretty mellow - with the huge asterix of "so long as you were surfing the pack and not trying to get in the break or chase the break. The most nervous I was all race was riding through and out of the dirt next to Joe D. As with a lot of other people, I REALLY don't want to be the dude who crashes him out.

Sunday was endurance day. 70 miles in the sunniest, driest, calmest thunderstorm I've ever ridden through.

Officially registered for K-town. Masters. It was a tough call but unlike Poolesville I'd actually like to be an integral part of the race and feel like I've got a shot at that if I do masters. So the next two weeks is either going batshit hard or super mellow easy. We'll see how well I manage a taper.