**Woke up early to the same pitter-pat, but it was not only the pitter-pat of rain, it was the pitter-pat of her three cats all runing around begging to be fed. Damn pussies. But I had to get up (it was 6:30am - dreary saturday - still dark and raining) for the Heart of Virginia Century bike ride.
I was almost dreading the prospect of spending the next 10 hours in the rain. I quietly washed my face, changed into my bike gear, and finished packing my gear for the day - said goodbye with a gentle kiss, and schlepped my bike and gear down the 3 flights of steps to load my car in the rain at 6:45am.
After everything was loaded - drove the 30 miles in the rain - it was still dark and raining hard. Light was just coming up. Finally got to the park where this "HUGE" - event was gonna happen (rain or shine)...I pull into the muddy field...holy crap..there are less than 50 cars here. This did not look good. The whole "parking lot" was a muddy field liking a resemblance to Woodstock - which was difficult to maneuver dry clothes off over muddy sandles. The few people that were there were hard core - like me I suspect. I'm not crazy, but I was having a realization - that, maybe I was.
At this point it was raining hard, I finally got my bike all together and geared up - I was fully clothed in layers of multi-weather bike gear - colorful. I checked my supply of hydration, gel packets, cell phone, cyclometer coordinates, cue sheets et al. Registered - with less than 25 people (there were supposed to be about 350 riders)....the few of us milled about until I asked, partially joking..."...so...um...who's doing the full Century?" (I originally planned on doing the full century, but the scenario started to look less than bleak and seriously "iffy")
Everyone looked sheepish until these 5 dudes all dressed in red and yellow rain gear piped up, "...yea, man...you in?" I said, you guys are crazy. Here it was Hurricane Ivan - the winds where whipping it up - and raining like crazy - lots of flooding. We decided to just go for it. We'd do the first 41 mile loop back to the start where we'd meet the 63 (metric) century riders for that leg. If it turned horrible...we'd just say the heck with it. So, just the 6 of us decide to head on out - it was raining like crazy, hard to see - gusts of wind to knock us off the road. Unsure why we were so determined. We started out slow then formed a nice paceline then there was a quick wreck behind me, no one was hurt, we regrouped and moved on. Finished the first loop of 41 miles back to the basecamp, took a rest, then moved on.
About 1 mile into it, we realized - we sure are moving fast - average speed 32 mph. Holy crap - the wind was pushing us sooo hard that we were sailing. It's a great thing to happen, when you are heading that way. This same wind that was pushing us forward was going to be a huge hindrance coming back. we flew that 32 miles - got there in an hour. We had a short stop then had to head back (the temperature dropped - got cold, worried about leg cramping and hydrothermia) then trudged back. It was miserable. We barely managed to get above 18 mph - full on headwind. But at that point - 70 miles into it, the rain started to slow down. We finally made it back. There were more people cheering us on than actual riders. It was bizarre.
I finally got back to my car after getting the most obnoxiously ultra bright pink t-shirt for this Century. But as the 6 of us said during the 100+ mile ride, "I biked through Hurricane Ivan, and all I got was this uber-Gay t-shirt".
Drove back to Richmond, took an amazingly comforting shower - cleaned up. Drove with my friend to see all the damage that happened during the Gaston floods (few weeks ago) in downtown, ran a few errands - including the grocery store to get all the stuff for the Paella I was to cook for the evening.
Spent the evening cooking Paella (recipe to follow at a later date - here and/or on Knees and Bees), having a few glasses of wine and watching Breaking the Waves with Emily Watson (wow, what a fucked up film - it's interesting to hear a first on full take on mental terms with a psychologist - dead on). We were both wiped out afterwards - we just brushed teeth and fell asleep. Long ass day and the sleep was nice - was breezy cool fall air under feather comfyness, cats pawing at my feet thinking they are mice. (**written following my trip to Richmond on 9/19)
I was almost dreading the prospect of spending the next 10 hours in the rain. I quietly washed my face, changed into my bike gear, and finished packing my gear for the day - said goodbye with a gentle kiss, and schlepped my bike and gear down the 3 flights of steps to load my car in the rain at 6:45am.
After everything was loaded - drove the 30 miles in the rain - it was still dark and raining hard. Light was just coming up. Finally got to the park where this "HUGE" - event was gonna happen (rain or shine)...I pull into the muddy field...holy crap..there are less than 50 cars here. This did not look good. The whole "parking lot" was a muddy field liking a resemblance to Woodstock - which was difficult to maneuver dry clothes off over muddy sandles. The few people that were there were hard core - like me I suspect. I'm not crazy, but I was having a realization - that, maybe I was.
At this point it was raining hard, I finally got my bike all together and geared up - I was fully clothed in layers of multi-weather bike gear - colorful. I checked my supply of hydration, gel packets, cell phone, cyclometer coordinates, cue sheets et al. Registered - with less than 25 people (there were supposed to be about 350 riders)....the few of us milled about until I asked, partially joking..."...so...um...who's doing the full Century?" (I originally planned on doing the full century, but the scenario started to look less than bleak and seriously "iffy")
Everyone looked sheepish until these 5 dudes all dressed in red and yellow rain gear piped up, "...yea, man...you in?" I said, you guys are crazy. Here it was Hurricane Ivan - the winds where whipping it up - and raining like crazy - lots of flooding. We decided to just go for it. We'd do the first 41 mile loop back to the start where we'd meet the 63 (metric) century riders for that leg. If it turned horrible...we'd just say the heck with it. So, just the 6 of us decide to head on out - it was raining like crazy, hard to see - gusts of wind to knock us off the road. Unsure why we were so determined. We started out slow then formed a nice paceline then there was a quick wreck behind me, no one was hurt, we regrouped and moved on. Finished the first loop of 41 miles back to the basecamp, took a rest, then moved on.
About 1 mile into it, we realized - we sure are moving fast - average speed 32 mph. Holy crap - the wind was pushing us sooo hard that we were sailing. It's a great thing to happen, when you are heading that way. This same wind that was pushing us forward was going to be a huge hindrance coming back. we flew that 32 miles - got there in an hour. We had a short stop then had to head back (the temperature dropped - got cold, worried about leg cramping and hydrothermia) then trudged back. It was miserable. We barely managed to get above 18 mph - full on headwind. But at that point - 70 miles into it, the rain started to slow down. We finally made it back. There were more people cheering us on than actual riders. It was bizarre.
I finally got back to my car after getting the most obnoxiously ultra bright pink t-shirt for this Century. But as the 6 of us said during the 100+ mile ride, "I biked through Hurricane Ivan, and all I got was this uber-Gay t-shirt".
Drove back to Richmond, took an amazingly comforting shower - cleaned up. Drove with my friend to see all the damage that happened during the Gaston floods (few weeks ago) in downtown, ran a few errands - including the grocery store to get all the stuff for the Paella I was to cook for the evening.
Spent the evening cooking Paella (recipe to follow at a later date - here and/or on Knees and Bees), having a few glasses of wine and watching Breaking the Waves with Emily Watson (wow, what a fucked up film - it's interesting to hear a first on full take on mental terms with a psychologist - dead on). We were both wiped out afterwards - we just brushed teeth and fell asleep. Long ass day and the sleep was nice - was breezy cool fall air under feather comfyness, cats pawing at my feet thinking they are mice. (**written following my trip to Richmond on 9/19)
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**Work was a slow mix of boredom and overGoogled-job searches. A few things got done - but overall, little to be done. Difficult to manage a project when one does not exist - and the whole bipolar dysfunctional ABBA clan was out of town all week - do the math. I was scheduled to leave at 5:30pm to drive in bad traffic down to Richmond, VA for the weekend. I was trying to determine if I should leave early - or leave late (because Washington, DC metro is soo horrible...it dictates your life). Would define a 2 hour sway of time wastedness. S0 I decided to leave at 5:30pm on the dot. Car loaded, gassed up - things for the trip, overtly obsessed packed bike and garb for trip. On da road jack...then......slow slow slow....break, gas, break, gas, break, gas.......never got above 15 mph on route 28 heading south. Swell. Then it began to rain. Hard. Then the winds, gusty. Took me an hour and a half to go 15 miles. Dag, yo..I still had another 105 miles to go. So I figure, I'll get to Richmond before 8pm if I pass all this DC traffic, get on Interstate 95 south - which is usually fast - minimum 65mph - and a direct route to Richmond. I'll make this story painless and short.
I arrived in Richmond at 10:30pm. Took me 5 hours to drive to Richmond, VA from Sterling, VA - a total of 110 miles. Let's do the math 110 miles divided by 5 hours, screw it - in my car, median time was just too fucking slow - for being in a car. For crying out loud - I can bike 100 miles in less than 5 and a half hours).
To sum it up - I was driving in the middle of Hurricane Ivan. I am a dumbshit. It was nothing but 50-80mph wind gusts and torrential downpours, multiple tornados, heavy lightning the entire trip. Spectacular lightning - saw a few close hits. It was a white knuckle drive. Everyone and their brother was calling me to tell me to be safe. It was frightening. Here I was stuck on Interstate 95, thousands of cars, bumper to bumper, literally parked - not moving anywhere...for hours on end - the radio saying, "....a tornado has touched down.....please take seek shelter immediately". Finally the cars started up their cars...we went 5mph, then 10mph...then stopped again. It was horrible. I found out later that there were many huge tornados that came thru. And I'm grateful that I got there safe.
Got to Richmond, was greeted by my friend who was so happy to see me safely there - by then, the rain had almost stopped. We had a casual evening, just caught up - had a beer and then we eventually dosed off to the pitter-pat of rain outside. (**written following my trip to Richmond on 9/19)
I arrived in Richmond at 10:30pm. Took me 5 hours to drive to Richmond, VA from Sterling, VA - a total of 110 miles. Let's do the math 110 miles divided by 5 hours, screw it - in my car, median time was just too fucking slow - for being in a car. For crying out loud - I can bike 100 miles in less than 5 and a half hours).
To sum it up - I was driving in the middle of Hurricane Ivan. I am a dumbshit. It was nothing but 50-80mph wind gusts and torrential downpours, multiple tornados, heavy lightning the entire trip. Spectacular lightning - saw a few close hits. It was a white knuckle drive. Everyone and their brother was calling me to tell me to be safe. It was frightening. Here I was stuck on Interstate 95, thousands of cars, bumper to bumper, literally parked - not moving anywhere...for hours on end - the radio saying, "....a tornado has touched down.....please take seek shelter immediately". Finally the cars started up their cars...we went 5mph, then 10mph...then stopped again. It was horrible. I found out later that there were many huge tornados that came thru. And I'm grateful that I got there safe.
Got to Richmond, was greeted by my friend who was so happy to see me safely there - by then, the rain had almost stopped. We had a casual evening, just caught up - had a beer and then we eventually dosed off to the pitter-pat of rain outside. (**written following my trip to Richmond on 9/19)
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What a bipolar day - it was fantastic the first half...the second half totally sucked. Work went well, very casual day - got off early to go (frustratingly) to get my car at the dealership. Let's just say that after today - I'm gonna trade that sucker in this January - it's plagued me with bad luck.
I called the dealership to see if my car (which was promised to be fixed before 4pm) was ready. Instead, i was informed that the paperwork was misplaced - that the car was not worked on - not even looked at because the service guy who "promised" me - just somehow went MIA today. Not my fricken fault. This was the THIRD time I've taken the car to the dealershit..I mean dealership to have this simple thing fixed. I was issued a rental yesterday. Anyhoo - they told me that it wouldn't be until Monday that I could pick it up - I about crapped in my pants. I yelled at the fartknockers for almost an hour explaining the stupidity of their lack of accountability.
Because I had the bike in the car - and I'm leaving to Richmond tomorrow for the weekend, I had to pick the car up. So I go there (took me over an hour to go 15 miles - fricken rushour), turn in the rental - wait too patiently for the VW guys to fetch my car 15 minutes...tick-tock...(sun is gonna go down..I need my bike ride tonight, no bike ride last night...no bike ride tomorrow night - will be driving to Richmond) - the guy shows up with the car - but the passenger side window is completely rolled down (electric windows) and we are unable to push it back up. After another 1/2 hour of deliberations and yelling on my part about this idiocracy, they finally decided that the only option was to tape plastic over the window. Grrr! Fuckers. Shit, If I knew that was gonna be the end result of 3 days of frustration - I could have just done that myself. I've lived in New Jersey and New York City for many years to know how to tape a broken window up real good. To repeat - Let's just say that after today - I'm gonna trade that sucker in this January - it's plagued me with bad luck.
After that hemmoroidal debacle, I drove to Vienna - in nothing but traffic. Not that my anger wasn't at a boiling point, but sheesh - It took me f o r e v e r to get to Vienna. I got there, it was almost dark...twilight. I went thru the motions of changing into my stuff, prepping the bike, locking car - i got on the road. It began to rain. so here I was, after a frustrating afternoon dealing with my shitty ass car and the ignoramus phiilistine VW monkeys, traffic...I'm biking in the dark while it's raining. I decided to only go about 20 miles. I could barely see. I needed the ride just to cool off from all the hot shit.
Got back to car, cleaned up - then drove home, at this point, it's almost 9:45pm - had dinner, rushed around to pack, clean/lube bike, et al before work and my trip to Richmond tommorrow for the weekend. Speaking of which, I need to finish that up. Have a great weekend, will be back on Sunday. Ciao.
I called the dealership to see if my car (which was promised to be fixed before 4pm) was ready. Instead, i was informed that the paperwork was misplaced - that the car was not worked on - not even looked at because the service guy who "promised" me - just somehow went MIA today. Not my fricken fault. This was the THIRD time I've taken the car to the dealershit..I mean dealership to have this simple thing fixed. I was issued a rental yesterday. Anyhoo - they told me that it wouldn't be until Monday that I could pick it up - I about crapped in my pants. I yelled at the fartknockers for almost an hour explaining the stupidity of their lack of accountability.
Because I had the bike in the car - and I'm leaving to Richmond tomorrow for the weekend, I had to pick the car up. So I go there (took me over an hour to go 15 miles - fricken rushour), turn in the rental - wait too patiently for the VW guys to fetch my car 15 minutes...tick-tock...(sun is gonna go down..I need my bike ride tonight, no bike ride last night...no bike ride tomorrow night - will be driving to Richmond) - the guy shows up with the car - but the passenger side window is completely rolled down (electric windows) and we are unable to push it back up. After another 1/2 hour of deliberations and yelling on my part about this idiocracy, they finally decided that the only option was to tape plastic over the window. Grrr! Fuckers. Shit, If I knew that was gonna be the end result of 3 days of frustration - I could have just done that myself. I've lived in New Jersey and New York City for many years to know how to tape a broken window up real good. To repeat - Let's just say that after today - I'm gonna trade that sucker in this January - it's plagued me with bad luck.
After that hemmoroidal debacle, I drove to Vienna - in nothing but traffic. Not that my anger wasn't at a boiling point, but sheesh - It took me f o r e v e r to get to Vienna. I got there, it was almost dark...twilight. I went thru the motions of changing into my stuff, prepping the bike, locking car - i got on the road. It began to rain. so here I was, after a frustrating afternoon dealing with my shitty ass car and the ignoramus phiilistine VW monkeys, traffic...I'm biking in the dark while it's raining. I decided to only go about 20 miles. I could barely see. I needed the ride just to cool off from all the hot shit.
Got back to car, cleaned up - then drove home, at this point, it's almost 9:45pm - had dinner, rushed around to pack, clean/lube bike, et al before work and my trip to Richmond tommorrow for the weekend. Speaking of which, I need to finish that up. Have a great weekend, will be back on Sunday. Ciao.
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Grrrrr. Damn Cars. Let me refrain - damn VW dealerships. This is the second time I have taken my car there for a minor repair that has turned into a fiasco. The second time too to take it in to have them say that they cannot repair it in one day. Fuckers - that's not what ya told me on the phone when I made an appointment. Fuckers - least they got my point as to inconveniencing me twice for this simple repair, this time they gave me a free rental thru Enterprize. Fugly beige Ford Focus. But hey - it runs, but not big enough for my bike n stuff (Grrrr!), so I missed going on my bike ride tonight (Triple Grrrrrrr!)
Felt naked coming home after work - it was still light out...I had my work clothes on....and most annoyingly...the 25 minute drive I usually have after my bike ride after work (after rush hour) turned into an hour and a half "commute" home - a whopping 17 miles. Was basically bumper to bumper for 15 od those 17 miles. I could have walked home faster. I hate Northern Virginia for this very reason. Such a waste of time - and energy. A quarter of a tank of gas to go 17 miles (27 kilometers) - stuck in traffic. GRRRrrrr!
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Work was a messy exersize in boredom - I could not wait to leave to go on a bike ride. As I left work for the ride - these huge dark grey thunderclouds came in - I knew I was gonna get wet. I was gonna do a short 30+ miler (still sore from the 100 miler Century on Sunday). It was a nice ride out - but on the way back, it came down hard. Same ol same ol afterwards cleaning up, drying off, et al. Came home - had some amazing scallops for dinner.
Speaking of food, I'm gonna be making Paella for my friend in Richmond - so I need to get some saffron (I have a huge grocery list for this paella) after I return, I will post my recipe, both here and in my (in dire to be updated) cooking blog. Just doing laundry tonight, and making preparations for the weekend out of town. I'm looking forward to it.
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OMG, this morning was hell. I felt ok last night after the Century I rode yesterday. But , omygosh - all night I had the worst cramping - lactic acid influx. This morning I could barely walk, and I was exhausted beyond belief (couldn't sleep a wink from the cramping in my legs). I called into my work telling them that I wasn't gonna be coming in until the afternoon (there was not much happenning there anyways).
I ended up sleeping until 2pm (I was exhausted). I had the oddest dreams. They were a combination of freaky things - one of which was me on a long Century bike trip with my younger brother, and this really sexy black woman - who was hitting on me the entire time. Then there was a part of the dream (or nightmare?) of me in a cooking class - and getting expelled for not knowing how to scorch creme brullee - damn snobs.
Woke up much refreshed, then went into the office - a ho hum day of nothingness. Got off work and went on a quick 12 mile stretch - I was still sore as hell. Came home, ate dinner - then made a list for my trip to Richmond for the Heart of Virginia Century. This will be complicated, because rain or shine - it happens (Hurricane Ivan is travelling thru the weekend, supposidly). I'm looking forward to seeing my friend who I'm staying with, have not seen her since the benning of this Summer.
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I am utterly WIPED out.
Today was the Southern Maryland Century (Indian Head Century). Click here for the map. Biked 102.7 miles through the rolling hills of southern Maryland, on the farmlands and hills along the Potomac River. It was perfect weather, and a beautiful day. I partnered up with the Baltimore Bike Club - we pacelined the entire Century. It was fast & furious. There were a few major hills, but by far - it wasn't as intense as the Reston Century with the steep high hills and heat. This century had only 3 rest stops as opposed to 5, so it was about 30 miles between each. My stats from this Century, total miles: 102.7 (164.2 kilometers), Average speed: 17.5mph (27.8 kph), top speed: 52 mph (83.4 kilometers)Total time (saddle time): 5 hours, 32 minutes.
Got up real early to prepare, drive for this event (woke up at 6:30am, out the door at 7am - got to Indian Head, MD at 8:10am - started after registration, equipment check et al at 8:30am). Finally drove home afterwards, had a great dinner with the parents, prepared for the work week - now just relaxing. WIll be a great week - ABBA is out of town all week. Great time for job interviews.
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(Under development, I'm bashful)