Welcome Relief

Wow, the bike sure does make a difference. On the one hand it can be a wonderful tool for raising awareness for charities such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Best Buddies. It can also serve as a willing steed to get one's mind back on track. Today's ride offered both for me.

It really is fantastic to be out on the bike training for wonderful causes and also blow off steam from a long week (ok, I know there is still one day to go). The weather was wonderful for riding. All these positives and still it took almost an hour to even feel a little good physically on the bike. Despite the fact that I was averaging almost 20 mph from San Ramon to Walnut Creek my legs felt absolutely useless. I think I was actually riding too fast because once I slowed down due to the change in terrain I actually felt better and started to find a groove.

As I turned back for home in Lafayette at 15 miles, I was pedaling nice circles and really enjoying myself. As I rolled down the boulevard a guy on a mountain bike with big knobby tires caught me while I was traveling around 18mph. For the next few miles he just silently followed in my slipstream. Normally, I like to hear a little 'How's it going?' when someone rides your wheel for that long, but today it really didn't bother me. I just thought of it as an opportunity to keep the workrate up and pull this guy down the boulevard. At Stone Valley Road, I had to stop and the guy finally said something. You know, the usual comments about weather. After which he went back to 'wheel-sucking' through Danville.

When the road finally opened up at Sycamore Valley he pulled along side and we actually had some conversation. He mentioned that he was going to be doing to mountain bike racing and he was just out building base. This explains why he was letting me do the pulling even though he could have left me in his wake easily.

By the end of the ride, I had knocked out 30 miles at around 16mph and felt good about the effort. I am now looking forward to the TNT 'Buddy Ride' this weekend and hope to extend the ride and head out Calaveras for the short steady climb before heading back.

On a non-cycling note, a big shout out to Chelsea for taking the first leg of their Champions League fixtures with my other favorite team, Juventus. The team now has to travel to Turin to take on the 'Old Lady' in her house. Let us hope that Chelsea don't make a mess of things. Go Ya' Blues!!!