We started the morning off MMMMMMMMMing, and Robert headed out to work at 7:15. I got up, had some coffee, and some breakfast, and got ready for the ride.
THE TRAINING ROUTE
– We met in North Raleigh, off Litchford Road, north of 540 off Falls of Neuse. This is the apartment complex in which our training leader, Ken, lives. We had another very large group of riders today, and the weather, as it was yesterday, was just beautiful!
WHAT I LEARNED
– 25 miles feels good after doing 35 the day before.
– That my little bike bag holding my tire tube was on wrong. My friend Joe reattached it for me.
– While looking behind you to see how far the next person is behind you is interesting, it’s not critical. And it’s certainly not worth getting into an accident over. (I almost ran into the curb doing this today.)
– I need to get to REI to get a pump and a tire gauge during the week, because I don’t seem to get there on the weekend.
WHAT HURT
– My ass hurt for about the first minute when starting out today.
HOW I FEEL
– I went into the ride today thinking, “I am just going to take it easy today after the long ride yesterday.” However, I found, again, just going at a comfortable pace, I was in the first 10 or 12 folks to finish. Cool.
– I was thinking, “so with yesterday and today’s ride, a total of 60 miles, that’s about two thirds of what we’ll do in one day during the ride.” 90-100 miles in one day will definitely be doable by June 19th.
I got home around 1:30, and laid out in the sun on my deck for the first official use since it’s been built. I had my CD player out there, and nodded off. Life is good!
Donna dropped by between 3:00 and 3:30 to pick up her items (from Macy’s) form our visit with her in NYC at the beginning of the month. For some reason, she seemed to think I “needed a few things,” which I interpreted as “on my walls,” as she looked around and said, “Now I have some ideas for Christmas gifts.” She made the comment that there was almost nothing in the place from our time together. Interesting, and pretty much true. The only furniture I have from our time together is my bedroom set, which used to be in one of our guest bedrooms in “the big house,” and the book cases that are now in my guest bedroom.
After she left, I rode out to Third Place to try and catch Gregor out and about. He wasn’t there, but I stayed, people watched, and got my Tour De Friends paperwork caught up, and then read a little out of Read My Lips to work on next week’s reading assignment.
From there, I stopped at Wal-mart and spent $91, mostly on items for the ride. I bought a hand pump, a floor pump, a “camelsack,” some snack bars, and some Gatorade. I also bought a scrap book to store everything from the ride in. I look forward to working on that.