I was going to ride my bike down to the meeting place for the training ride this morning, but got up too late to do it. I did get my water bottle clamp attached and my seat back pack attached to the bike in time for the ride.
We met at the state Capitol building, and had a really good crowd. Before we started a news van pulled up and asked about filming us at the beginning of our ride. Must be a slow news day.
I passed Joe along the way, and his bike was flipped upside down and about four people were helping him change a flat tire on his rear wheel. Too bad he didn’t make it in time for the flat tire clinic yesterday. 🙂
Gordon looked very sexy in his riding outfit.
THE TRAINING ROUTE
– We started in downtown Raleigh at the state Capitol building. We rode through some busy streets, had to take a slight detour at the beginning due to roadwork, and road just over 15 miles.
WHAT I LEARNED
– There is a great sense of camaraderie when you’re riding in a group, and doing all the signals and warnings you’re supposed to do.
– The verbal warnings: “Car up!” “Car back!” “Dog up, left.” “Mud.” “Pothole, right.” “[Passing] On your left.” “Pole, center.”
– To put my chain back on when it doesn’t go on smoothly the first try.
– The four people you’re following at the end might be going home instead of back to the state Capitol.
WHAT HURT
– My neck, but just a little, and oddly, my biceps.
HOW I FEEL
– Very much apart of “the team.”
– It’s going to be a long day for each day of the race. Today, particularly after riding yesterday for 15 miles as well, as I was feeling at the end, “I’m glad we’re almost done.”
– Very good about the toe straps.
At 3:00, I met Gregor for coffee at Third Place. He was late and when he arrived he was on the phone. With mum, so all was forgiven.
I tried, at two places, on the way to Third Place to buy him a couple of flowers, but one place was closed and the other only had fake ones at over $8.00 per stem, which was too expensive for a joke. On an e-mail Gregor had left me about us getting together he had said, “You don’t bring me flowers any more.”
I left there and stopped by Harris Teeter at Cameron Village to pick up ingredients to make two chicken recipes that I’d recently culled from one of my three new cookbooks.
Just as I was about to start dinner, Steve called and invited me over to have dinner with him. I ended up eating there, bacon-burgers, and chili-cheese fries! Not on the diet! It was yummy though. I brought a cucumber and had balsamic-vinegar and parmesan cukes. Delicious, too!
At home, I did a few TCW things in preparation for the board meeting on Tuesday.