Fast Thursday and Short Friday

On Thursday we woke to 60° F temps 13 were out and the guys were feeling frisky.  We hammered down the trail, cut over to Old County Road where two of us remained on Old County while the majority went into Round Bay to tackle Askewton.  My goal was to get further down the trail before being caught.  I was several hundred yards from the end when I saw the train headed my way.  They caught me.  Mike nearly held them off, but also got caught just a few yards shy of the end of the trail.  How fast were we?  My ride maximum was 32 mph and that was within the first few miles.  We were often well above 20 mph.

Having burned out during the fast first half of the ride, Mike and I rode back relatively leisurely.  At the end of the ride, I still had a record (this year) average pace of 17.5 mph for the whole ride.  The fastest 5 mile split was 19.6 mph average, and that included some uphill.

After the ride, Dan put out an invitation for more riders to join us for the Friendly Fixie Friday ride.  A total of 16 riders showed up, 11 going to breakfast in Annapolis.  We even had John Z and his wife on a tandem this morning.  With that size of group, we naturally fell into small conversational groups.  Later, Jerry showed up in Annapolis.  He had been on target to join us (from Catonsville) but had flatted and as a result, missed the start.  He rolled into Annapolis on another flat.  I provided him with a tube.

I opted to not ride a long day today.  I had given up my only tube, and I had a string of “luck” that kept me cautious.  As I was riding my warm-up ride to the Rusty Bridge, a bunny ran across the trail and ran directly into my right leg just above the ankle.  Bunny noggins are a sharp crack to the shin when they hit you head on.  I was glad this was a bunny.  The last time a critter hit my leg while riding, it was a squirrel and it ran up my leg and up my arm before I flicked it off with an elbow fling.  That squirrel ended up in the front spokes of Janet.  From what I could tell  in the dark, no bunny was injured in today’s incident.

Later, I had stopped at a traffic light and after turning on to King George street thought I had clipped back in properly.  I was accelerating, and was up to around 20 mph when my right foot released the pedal and suddenly I was on the fixie with one leg turning at 90 rpm.  It threw the bike off balance, skidding just a bit on the rear tire as I wrestled it back into line.  I didn’t go down, but it was close.  After I regained control, I slowed enough to re-clip and proceeded on my way.  I encountered a traffic jam at the entrance to the Naval Academy, and nearly tumbled as I tried to squeeze between two cars.  The one ahead stopped short and I had to really crank the bike over to avoid a collision.

So, you see, I had no business being out on the fixie all morning solo.  Besides, I have a ton of work to do at home today and want to get to it.

This will bring the month of March to a close for me.  After the surgery, I set a goal for March of 400 miles.  I’m way above that.

April brings the Fleche (2 weeks!).  May brings OC-14, and maybe another ride to Ocean City at the end of the month.

These Rides: 48 miles
Month: 657.8 miles
2012: 933.2 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 14,786.9 miles

Days to Flèche: 15