Most people who are close enough to me to realize this, are also close enough to kinda-sorta-maybe like me for it. I have a tendency to be really calm and collected for a few moments only to scream out, "Damn you, Mother Nature!" when trying to ride into a 30 mph headwind after 3 hours and 45 minutes in the saddle. Not that this happened anytime recently or anything (cough...cough...Sunday..cough).
I went out for a ride with my dear friend, Dan. He's still my dear friend, even after dragging me across most of Southern Jersey for a 4 hour tour. This was our route.
Near the end, I became delirious and began singing a cycling version of the theme song to Gilligan's Island that went something like this:
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale of a cycling trip
That started from this training center
Aboard my Mari ship
The mate was a lime green Choppahcorn
The skipper brave and sure
Two cyclists set off that day
For a 4 hour tour...a 4 hour tour
You don't really need to hear the rest, except that I kept repeating "4 hour tour" in my head for the last 15 miles.
Upon arriving home, I laid on the floor of the training center for about 5 minutes before the embrocation on my legs threatened to burn through my leg warmers. I got up, and begged Mr. Anonymous-poster to take me out for a burger. I was so tired that, upon pulling into a parking spot at the restaurant, I realized that I had forgotten to put on shoes and was still wearing my slippers. Oh well... the burger was more important than my shoe selection.
All in all, it was a great day and a great weekend. I had spent Saturday down in Baltimore with the Wasabi girls. We weren't able to get outside for our training ride due to the cruddy weather, but we spent a couple of hours on the trainers in Little D's living room and then hit up the shop and an AWESOME little deli in Hampden for lunch. It was a great day.
It's weekends like this that remind me how much I love being on my bike - no matter what the circumstances, no matter if I'm racing or just tooling around the state - and how much I adore the people that I get to spend time with. They are great folks with big and humble hearts. And, they make my life better.
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