If I believed in God, he must have relegated today as a day in heaven. It was one of the better known days (via weather) that I have experienced. It was super clear and crisp...not a cloud in the sky, and warm. I spent the better part of the late morning looking at apartments - same results as yesterday. But the weather was so nice..I sorta dilly dally'd around, got all my errands done in no haste.

I headed to Leesburg to embark on a glorious training ride - sort of a hilly-lite version of what I'm going to bike tomorrow. I took it easy, being that I'm doing the metric century (63+ miles) from Leesburg as part of the opening season for the Atlantic Cycling tour. I only put in 42 miles - at a leisure pace, just a mere stretch out.

Went to the asain market afterwards and stocked up on some provisions to cook/prepare for the dinner I'm making my parents tomorrow night. Came home, showered, and started making preparations - eating while I cooked. I am making Rainbow Trout stuffed with leeks, spinach, sausage, cilantro, garlic - two side dishes, Methi Ki Sabji (a stirfry of Methileaves, onion, garlic, green chili and crushed cumin seeds), and a romano tomato vinegrette salad with gorgonzola.

Welp, time to go clean my bike - it's a total mess. I have taken everything off from chain to derailers - it's sitting downstairs naked...just a frame, begging my attention to clean her all up and make her less "naked". On that note, my date is awaiting.

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It's nice to have a day off to actually get a whole block of domestic stuff done (that you need to do during workweek hours - as opposed to on the wekend). I spent the later part of the morning looking at apartments - some were a bust, some where nice, albeit very pricy. The search continues (tomorrow). The late afternoon I ran some errands and then headed out to Vienna for a training ride. THe weather was quite nice, about 68 degrees and got cooler as I did a casual recovery ride (after yesterday's brutal training ride) of 44 miles. Got back at @8pm, then ran to the grocery store to get a few things. The time just flew. By the time I was at home, showered and ready to cook dinner..it was 10pm.

Made a quick dinner and surfed a few shows on tv...then ready to just hang for the night. Tomorrow will be about the same.

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I am wiped out. Went on the club ride with the "A" riders, sheesh - they rocked me out. It was just drizzling when we started out, then about 20-30 minutes into it, it came down hard. These dudes took me thru some really fast hills - I was able to keep up with them for the first 30 miles, then I got caught at a light trying to clip in before a big hill - then I "bonked", I ended up finishing the ride with the rest of the "B" riders. Came back completely soaked. At least the temperatures were in the high 60s. Between the club ride and the 5 mile warmup/cooldown ride to and from the club spot, I did a sloppy wet total of 42 miles. The nasty thing about biking in a paceline in the rain is that you get a face/mouthfull of "road juice" sprayed off the back tires of the person you're drafting (called a "rooster tail") - so you have a constant mouthfull of sandy oil rain water...I am still tasting it. Nasty. Otherwise, felt great - racing speeds averaged @ 30 miles an hour most of the peleton.

Work was not much to report - semi-mild day. I had to finish up projects for the week, taking tomorrow off to look at apartments, and hopefully find a place to apply/sign a lease. Welp, time to go clean up my "road juiced" bike.

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All of a sudden, it's summer. Well, for today it was. By the time I got off work - it was 87 degrees (screengrab from weather.com at @ 5:15pm). Work was just that...work. But it turned into a pleasant afternoon with people in good spirits because of the weather change. It was the kinda evening to sit on the deck, watch the sun go down and have a few beers.

I chose to hightail it all the way out to Purcellville - end of the line going from my office - an even 23 miles out and back, total of 46 miles. It's becoming chump change now. I am fortunate to where my office is located - a block from the bike trail which is 46 miles long, Where I get on is exactly at the half way point...so I can bike to end of trail one night...then to the other end the next night.

It was the most pleasant rides, a little on the warm side - but a breeze and a beautiful sunset as I arrived back at my car. I "pulled" (pacelined - me in front, allowing the dude behind me to draft) this older gentleman who was riding this really fancy Kestrel bike. As it turns out, he was in his 60s - and used to be a pro bike racer back in the day - he was a lot of fun to ride with, telling stories the last 5 miles of my ride (I was cooling down). That old man sure could keep up with my pace - and strangely, he recognized me from last fall on the trail.

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Oh crap - I was reading an article last night from a seasoned marathon cyclist who said in comparison to the top challenging century rides, Mountains of Misery is by far "more challenging" than the Assault of Mount Mitchell - I find this hard to beleive, but it freaked me out. After reading the testemonial, it sounded like a challenging ride if you are in constant training - which I am...but the sentence "But for the entire ride, Misery's the winner (sic, over Mitchell) for dishing out the misery." (ed. note, I'm doing the Mountains of Misery on May 29th, and goddamnit..I'm planning on finishing it)

I have to ponder that for a moment while I do the Leesburg Tour Metric Century this sunday - totally forgot about it. I was planning on doing a 70 miler up in the hills out near West Virginia, on the same route of the Reston Century - this basically does the same.

Work was irritatingly slow - which crushed my spirit for the afternoon before we were excused to go out and play in the nice weather...it was a beautiful 70 degrees. I wore my regular summer bike grear. Since i left at 5pm ...I'd bike until 7:30 or so. I got out there - it was just splendid. Biked out to Shirlington, the end of the line in Alexandria..the trail was crowded, but I biked with a few buddies along the way. On the ride back, we flew like banshees - sometimes in paceline excess of 30-35 mph on the flats. All in all, I completed with a fast 46 miles. Got back to the car - it was twilight. I love watching the sunsets everynight, another highlight of my day.

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For a Monday workday - it flew by, good to have new projects on hand. The weather outside was continuing to get lovlier and lovlier - I was getting antsy to get out there and ride. Not to mention that today was the first work night ride - after Daylight savings time. It was 65 degrees, and clear - but really windy. The rest of this week is going to be in the 60s, and Wednesday, high in low 70s. :)

It was still windy as all get out, so I decided to bike into it, and then reap the benefits of the tailwind push on the way home. I had realized after 5 miles into it that I had forgot my hydration pack (which usually just caries my bike pump, extra tube, my rear flasher) - so if I got a flat out there, I'd be screwed. Fortunately I didn't have an incident. It was a great workout getting out there 22 miles out, 22 back, 44 total. The ride back was great - I was riding with these two ladies who were triatheletes - they were whippin along real fast, both on Cervelo bikes, very sexy....especially the bikes. The damn things cost over $8k each, top of the line with full Dura-Ace, carbon wheelsets - the wheelsets alone cost over $1.5k...fancy schmancy. After about 10 miles, I had to finally "drop" them - they were going too slow for my training pace. We said "ciao" and I pedalled on.

After I got back to my car, it was still a little twilight - this is great, now I can retire my biking lights for the season. This is a great feeling - it can only get better.

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After all the rain yesterday - I thought I might need hip waders to get through the day. It continued to rain all night, there was lots of flooding in the area. I was awaken by the wind. Gotta love Spring. If it's not raining, it's windy as hell.

Did a few minor sunday morning chores around the house then packed up my bike gear (including shoes this time!) to do a training ride later and headed out to meet a friend for lunch. After lunch, got stuck in the worst traffic on my way to Vienna coming from Alexandria. Took me over an hour to drive 10 miles. I was on the verge of road rage.

Arrived in Vienna, stopping by Spokes, Etc to check on some USPS bike shorts, waiting patiently for them to go on sale. And BINGO! they were - only one pair left, and my size. Snatched them up (pictured, mine are a little different - they have a yellow cuff). They match my USPS jersey.

I was reluctant to ride - the wind had picked up and the news was telling of a heavy wind advisory, gusts of up to 50-60pmh. Well, after I was into my ride about 12 miles out, yes - heading headwind - it finally sunk in that it was really bad wind. I continued on, it was still remarkably beautiful with the rolling clouds, crisp air (got really chilly), and the idea that the ride back was going to be a breeze. In fact it was great resistence training. Took me over two hours and 20 minutes to get out there - but about an hour coming back. At some points, I was sailing between 35 and 40mph, without hearing any wind on the way back. 46 miles in all (I was hoping to do a 60+ miler, but the wind was just horrible).

Came home, prepared for the work week, had a great steak dinner, with bread and green beans - I love my "diet" Ha! Now just dealing with sunday night anxiety before the work week begins.

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