Oh I do like this ride. Amusing side note: I STILL have not ridden 100 miles in any one ride.

Started out in a horrid large pack. With 6,000 some odd riders that's hard not to do. Jockied for position in town but kept it civil.

Got out of town and the crowds started thinning out. Some roadies decided to latch onto me and draft. I don't care as long as they know I may or may not give them warning about movements especially since a lot of times the person doesn't even give me the courtesy of telling me (s)he's drafting.

Purple amoebas EVERYWHERE. Team In Training packs all over the damn place. Rare was the group that was taking up the whole side of the road and not leaving any room to the left who wasn't wearing one of the Team in Training jerseys from various parts of the country. Hell, at one point there were two people riding side by side and they had divided the lane up in thirds and each was riding the line that cut the thirds. They weren't even moving off when they had a line of cars lined up behind them. Sure enough, Team In Training jerseys.

A little more familiar with the course this year and it was just a perfect day to ride. Started out low 50's or late 40's. I don't think there was a cloud in Maryland all day and it got up to about 65 or 70 at the end of the ride.

I left my toes in the car, apparently. They joined me about 2 hours into the ride. At one point I thought I had picked up a twig or stick in the vent at the bottom of my shoe and kept trying to work it off the side of my shoe so I could ignore it until the next rest stop. It didn't want to seem to move. GRRRR. Took my shoe off and there tweren't anything in there. WTF? Then it dawned on me that my toes were thawing and my big toe had only partially unfrozen. The "stick" was the rest of the big toe that was still numb. Oops.

Tree lined back roads. Some really nicely paved, some just okay. Very few chip sealed or beaten to hell. Little to no wind.

This year was slightly different in feel for me. I got passed by three or four pacelines. That's all. Got passed by ONE single rider. I felt great the whole ride. When I got off at the end I wasn't utterly toasted like I was last year. I could still run. How odd. I also wasn't covered in salt, my legs weren't cramped and I wasn't wobbly. Weird.

Once again, the out portion, 62.x miles, I did averaging 20.4 MPH. That should tell you what the wind was like on the return trip. I was just trying to keep 80 RPM pedal speed and whatever gearing that would give me that. 80 seems to be my happy place. I switch to 90 when I need a break or to change things up but rarely do I drop to 70 intentionally.

I HAD to stop at the last rest stop. Apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Now I tend to avoid carbs in my day to day diet but when I'm out training I use HEED, Perpeteum, Gels, Sustained Energy and the normal stuff. Well, apple pie is an excellent source of race energy, right?



Nothing at all.

Walked around. Got my tshirt and bought a jersey. Talked to the giant fibreglass seagull and had him hold my bike for a minute.

I have all intention of doing this again next year.