Sunday, January 04, 2009

A good weekend of riding. Saturday was the first annual Ed Tan Memorial Ride. Ed was a brother-in-law of Timoteo Bobbish and a small group of Sharks and Gateways showed up give some support.

I got an early start with a ride to the bank followed by a trip down Grants Trail and Reavis and then did three laps of JB before others started to show. That was twenty miles before the ride got going.

The actual was unstructured since it was something of a last-minute gathering. We decided to head toward downtown and then across the Chaîne de Rochers. The weather was somber which seemed fitting for a Memorial Ride. Chilly, gray skies only got grayer as the middle of the day arrived. The air was thick with moisture and the cool air created a foggy river and a low hanging cloud that was hiding the upper halves of buildings and only about 100' of the Arch.

There were a few small efforts on the way back but in general the pace was kept in check and we had a nice ride. By the time I was done, about 76 miles of pavement had passed beneath my wheels.

Today was a little cooler, less humid but the wind was laying down some smack. Giuseppe forgot his shorts... again. This is a disturbing occurrence that happens at least once a year. While he drove back home, Marco, Patrice, Davide and I did a smallish loop on the flats to kill time until he returned.

Once we were back to ful strength, the actual route took us up Imbs Station, past Eckerts and then further east on Zingg and Mine Haul. What goes east with a tailwind must eventually turn back west. I was purposely staying in a relatively large 53x16 that left me spun out at times in the tailwind but was an absolute butt-kicker into the headwind. It was a real battle but I managed okay and in the end it seems like it was a real good strength workout of about 45 miles.

The last few weeks after Cross Nats have been I pleasant period of relative down time. But, with the arrival of the New Year it is time to begin ramping up the workouts for the upcoming season. The trainer and I will become good friends during the weeks ahead.

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