35 Mile Training Ride…

Robert got up at 7, and said he was awake between about 4:00 and 5:30 with the music from next door! Very annoying! He set off for work at about 7:15.

I got up, had breakfast, and showered before heading out to Carrboro for today’s training ride.


THE TRAINING ROUTE

– It took almost an hour to get to our meeting place in Carrboro. We rode though some beautiful country, though, a lot of it out by where my friend Kevan used to live. The ride was 35 miles, our longest yet, by far.

– We had 42 riders participating in the training today. This is the biggest training ride ever in all the years the team captain running the training has ever seen.

WHAT I LEARNED

– Roadkill is bigger and uglier up close.

– I still have some work to do in anticipating gear shifts. My chain came off once during the ride.”

– 35 miles is a long ride for a 45-year old, but doable.

– What one-third of one of the four days we’ll be riding feels like.

WHAT HURT

– The place where your legs meet your butt. I didn’t realize this, however, until I got home and started walking up the stairs to my second floor. Little sharp, stabbing pains happened there, with each step.

HOW I FEEL

– I feel very good about my stamina for the 35 miles. In spite of being one of the oldest people participating, I was one of the first 10 people finishing. (It’s not a race, and I’m not “competing,” that’s just where I ended up coming in after riding at a pace that was comfortable to me.)

– I am officially declaring the toe straps a non-issue.

– Toward evening, thinking about riding another 25 miles tomorrow, I thought, “I don’t know why they don’t space these training rides out, say maybe one on Wednesday and the other on Saturday. After quite a while, it occurred to me though, the ride takes place over four consecutive days.

Once home, I made the frosting for the Pistachio Nut cake, so it could sit in the fridge for a couple of hours. It really bugged me that the recipe I got from the web says, “A large tub of Cool Whip.” How large is large?

At about 3:30 Donna called to ask if I’d received her messages. She had left my two while I was riding, and Nextel didn’t alert my phone of them. She just wanted to let me know that she wasn’t going to drop by as we had planned. I called into my voice mail, and sure enough there were two messages. It’s annoying that I didn’t get her messages, but good that they weren’t critical, and I got an awareness about the possibility that that sort of thing can happen. I’m quite trusting when it comes to technology, sometimes too much so.

I frosted the cake at 4:00, showered, checked in with Will before heading to his house for his cookout to see if he needed anything. He asked me to stop by the grocery store and pick up 8 hamburgers and 8 buns. I stopped by his house first (to my cake in the fridge), and then ran over to the Harris Teeter at Cameron Village.

I was the first one to his house, and when I got back from the Harris Teeter I was still the only person there. I, then, kept asking Will, “Will, who was the first one here? Will, who was the second one here?”

The party was lots of fun, and the food was good. Brian (Steve’s neighbor) was there, and he’s just so totally hot. Sam (Chris’ girlfriend kept working him (e.g., “pull your shirt up”), and all the gay guys were “appreciative” — both of her, and his exhibitions.

My cake was a big hit, so that was cool. I left there (after drinking entirely too much), and drove to Oasis to dance. At about 9:50, Robert, unexpectedly arrived. What a nice surprise. We had a great night of dancing, and he said, “one of the best, most comfortable nights” he’s had. It wasn’t very crowded though. Jay showed up at about 10:45. I don’t think he had a very good time, though. He mentioned heading over to Flex for underwear night.

Robert and I left a little after midnight. He spent the night.

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