Serious Training and Unscheduled Rest Stops

Cycle Guy had the day off on Friday so we wanted to go for a bike ride, but Thing One had his smart teeth (Get it? Wisdom Teeth? Smart Teeth? The Bean came up with that one.) out on Thursday so he was home on Friday asking for butterscotch pudding and watching "The Office" reruns. We decided we could still go but not to make it a full day trip. We settled on the short (30 mile) version of one of our favorites. A Lake Stevens/Granite Falls loop that is almost entirely quiet country and forest roads. Beautiful!

I often carry a camera in my jersey pocket, but Friday I realized that it's time I got serious about the training thing so the pocket remained empty.

Here's the way a ride goes when I don't bring the camera in my jersey pocket. I set my watch timer to go off every five minutes. I start out in front with Cycle Guy following in my draft. When the alarm rings, I move to the back and CG leads.

His new bike is really fast and sometimes I have to kick myself to keep up. But he's a pretty good friend so he keeps track of me and rarely gets very far ahead. Except on hills where you ride your own ride and meet at the top. That's when I stand up and leave him in my dust. (click here for a refresher on bicycle lingo.)

Remembering the importance of hydration, I was sure to bring my favorite water bottle along. But that brings with it the need for rest stops. Usually we watch for constructions sites or soccer fields, all good places for a porta potty. But like I said, this is a VERY rural route and, well, porta potties are hard to come by.

After seeing nothing for like 100 miles I ran behind a lonely building for a quick "health break", then I was ready for some more H2O.

The day was amazingly nice. We've been waiting for weather like this. Jerseys and shorts were all we needed. No jackets, no layers, I didn't even need my toe warmers!

CG even decided to pull out all the stops and 'look' like the true cyclist that he is. Notice? No camo baggies over the spandex!

Things learned: It's important to take your turn in a pace line. If you are the owner of the stopwatch it's probably best to be honest about when the alarm rings, your partner probably has a pretty good sense about how long 5 minutes lasts and letting more than one rotation go by while you're in the draft makes you a wheel sucker. Also, Action Wipes will get chain grease off your leg.