Ned, DC and stuff

So here's my latest ride with Ned pic. RickyD is next to 'the man whilest I remain kitted up on a borrowed superpimp gold Stumpy FSR compliments of Blazer. It was a fun ride. It had all of the normal issues associated with 20 or so dudes (no dudettes) rolling through the woods of Patapsco on a cold day. We had lots of flats is what it really boiled down to.

Blazer asked me to lead the group and I managed to only embarrass myself in front of RickyD (actually, behind him) by not being the fastest. Ned, of course, is the fastest, but he always hangs back.

I rode the log at the top of the white trail on a borrowed bike without dabbing. Ned tried a few times on his borrowed and seriously flawed Enduro (it's host shop didn't give it a once over).

I probably should have been more worried about the ride. I rode 36m or so the day before in a serious amount of wind. I almost got blown off of the Severn River Bridge and I was tired. I seem to do that 'Tour de Severn' ride a lot and this one really hurt. I was hoping to do 50m or so, but it just didn't happen. I was stoked to get off the bike. Did I mention it was cold?

I managed to sneak out for about an hour and a half on Saturday to ride the fixie around the neighborhood. I broke out the old HR monitor to try and keep the HR below 120. It's hard when there's wind and hills. It's nice to just go out to ride with the only goal being to relax and ride.

A local pro road guy has agreed to be my un-official coach for the season. We haven't really gotten down to any type of program, he's just helping me understand the basics of real training. He's a supergood dood and I'm lucky that he's spent any time helping me.

I spent some time at the National Bike Summit on Wednesday morning and Thursday for the Congressional reception. I caught up with a bunch of friends from around the country during the opening. I went for the free coffee and socialization. The League had 370 people registered which made this year's event the biggest ever. Thursday night, Susan and I cruised downtown and hit the Russell SOB (Senate Office Building) for the drinking portion of the event. I caught up with Ned, Patrick from WTB, Johnny B from Trek, Ariadne from Specialized, Sweatervest from Portland, Gary from Quality and my good buddy Chris Scott from HBurg who I think hit on my wife. Maybe he was just being nice. Who knows. I guess I'll punch him in the back of the head just in case. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

So, we are like seven weeks out from the first race of the season. That's probably wrong, I should look. All I can do is just ride my bike. I've got plenty of work to do so it continues to be a balancing act. At least the lack of commute makes it a little easier to squeeze in a ride here and there.

April 22nd is the City Bikes Season Kickoff Party at Schaeffer Farms.