Another good riding week - the weather is not quite as warm as I'd like, but it's getting there. The morning sunrises over the Potomac are glorious when the skies are clear!
Thursday, I met up with my cycling friend Paul to do the Arlington loop. It was a great ride and we had fun circumnavigating Arlington.
Saturday was gorgeous, although it started off a little chilly. But no one could resist the blue skies and we had quite a nice sized group show up - probably about 12 riders altogether.
We set off and not 8 miles down the road but David's chain broke - not fell off, BROKE! But luckily we have some experienced impromptu roadside mechanics who managed to take off the broken link and reattach the chain. You can definitely ride with a shortened chain, but it does limit the number of gears you have access to. It's to David's credit that he completed the rest of the ride (60 more miles!) like this.
The route had changed a little bit from in previous years because the store at the first pit stop changed hands and no longer has the sort of things (Gatorade, chips, muffins) that we can eat so our first pit stop was a bit longer than anticipated. Another stroke of luck - there was a tail wind, so we were hauling ass for those ~27 miles! We averaged about 19 mph for that first third.
After fueling up at the first pit, we slowed down a bit as we turned into the head wind. But the sun was out and the skies were blue and we were in a groove so everyone seemed to be having a good time. We made it to the second pit, where it was time for lunch and pie (or bread pudding, if you're me or Bruno).
Lunch was great - a chance to sit in the sun and eat. Just as we were about to leave, Michelle notices that one of my spokes is broken! So our impromptu roadside mechanic removes it and we set off. Again, you can ride like this but it's not ideal. It has the potential to bend the wheel out of shape. But there was no choice as it was 22 miles back to the start so on we pressed.
The last leg carries a pretty yucky hill - it's not long, but it's steep. I think riding in a pack helped keep up the momentum and made the hill seem not as bad as usual. About 10 miles from the end, there was an unscheduled pit stop for Mike and I in order to relieve our bladders. The last 10 miles flew by and soon enough, we were back at the start.
It was such a wonderful day for a ride and I want to thank everyone who did it with me! I hope you all had as much fun as I did.
And thanks to all of my donors! As I hope you'll have noticed, I doubled my donations in just one week thanks to you all! You are amazing and I appreciate it so much.
Hope you all had good weekends and enjoyed Mother's Day.
Rachael