Woke up this morning with a not so pleasant tummy - I chewed up a handful of Tums, called into the office to say I'd be in later and went back to bed. Woke up at around 11am, felt much better. Headed into the office which was to be an incredibly (and suprizingly) dull afternoon. The day finished up with much pleasantries and was able to leave the office a little early to go out on a bike ride (it warmed up to the high 60s).
So off I went - no heavy dudy gloves, no headband nor balacava, no shoe covers nor booties - just a light jacket, long tights (almost did shorts but it gets cold after dark) - a pleasant 42 miles. Nice long stretch, some on the trail, and some on my training loop.
It was interesting watching this one cop sit on one of the corners on my training loop with his radar detector, waiting to pull a car over. He watched me a few times, we made eye contact...he held up three fingers (meaning I've done three laps), he was counting my laps - was kinda funny. He was obviously bored, because after an hour - he didn't pull anyone over, so he left. I've seen him parked on another part of my loop - sits there in the dark with his parking lights on, waiting like a spider to catch a speeder in his web.
I was looking at this Double Century this Spring in Blacksburg, VA called the
Mountains of Misery, which appealed to me for many reasons - it's 126 miles in the hills of the Appalachia, one of my old college buddies lives in Blacksburg (who I have not seen in years), and a guest speaker at the pasta dinner the night before the race is Mike Magnuson, author of the book,
Heft on Wheels which I just finished reading tonight. I'll have to take my book to have it signed. Great article + photos of the Mountains of Misery's 2004 ride
here.
THis is what attracted me the most to it, the description "Now in its seventh year, the Mountains of Misery Century Challenge includes an almost preposterous amount of climbing, with a cumulative elevation gain of 10,000 feet that finishes on a sickeningly steep three-mile pull to Mountain Lake. Many consider it among the nation's toughest century rides, which is why it attracts masochistic riders from Virginia and beyond." Hee hee...I'll be chanting this while I feel the pain:
Alez Alez Alez!
Vite Vite!
Alonz-y!