Weekday ride - Thursday, 12 April

I felt great yesterday. There's no other way to put it. On Wednesday I had done a brick with my buddy Dr. D, and my quads were REALLY tight and sore after the run. No matter. I commuted in yesterday, expecting to want to take it easy because of the soreness, and instead I just blew it up on the way there. I can't help but wonder if it was the difference in weight between the Fuji from earlier and the Felt, but it seems like only one day on Fuji (and then a couple days off completely) wouldn't make that much of a difference. Maybe it did... maybe it did.

In any event, my legs were still tight after getting to school, even the the commute was a personal best (slightly different route than usual, cutting out a number of traffic signals), and I figured that the Brookhaven ride was going to be nice and easy.

Wrong.

I got out of the parking lot and just lit it up. I immediately felt good, not even requiring my usual warmup to shake the acid out. I felt GREAT going up the first climb (which on any other day just sneaks up on me and takes out any momentum I'd built) and then I just kept going. I fishtailed a bit on some debris a couple times in the switchbacks, but still kept my line and kept going. I got to the top of the first loop and didn't see any of the lead group. I checked my time, as usual, expecting them to have just ridden off without waiting. Well, less than 3 minutes later I came around to the regroup area, and there they were, having just stopped a moment before. Rather than wait too long, I stopped, had some water, and took off again. I was really feeling good, and though the lead group caught me almost immediately after I left, I had them in my sights almost the entire length of the lower loop (losing them primarily because of a bad driver and an ill-time bud-swallowing).

The second time around, I told myself that for sure I was going to ease off. I could feel the acid building in my legs. BUT I JUST COULDN'T. Again, I just went after it, and it paid off. I felt great during and after the whole ride, and, best of all, I PRd. I'll take that.

It was a fantastic night out.

Stats:

Maximum speed: 30.5 mph
Average speed: 16.0 mph
Distance: 20.31 mi
Time: 1.15.52

Details and map here.