Nothing Left

I was tentative this morning.  I had a late night at work following a very long day.  Rain was forecast.  When the alarm rang, the first thing I did was check the radar.  Rain was in the area, a little north of Severna Park.  There was a chance for light rain.  It was 55° F.  The pavement was dry.  Time to ride the bike.

I struggled.  The fender went on.  I pulled the rain jacket over a short sleeve jersey (guaranteeing no rain).  I actually got out of the house a little early but found that my legs just didn’t want to spin very fast.  I had a slow trip to the Rusty Bridge.  We were 6 on the bridge, and we picked up Chip shortly after the ranger station.  The speed out of the gate was quick, but not too bad.  It didn’t pick up until Jennings Road, where we simply eased into a fast pace, so by the time we hit the trail again, we were fast … and accelerating.  I held on until Old County Road, and let them go.  I opted to go straight on Old County and would let them catch me after their loop through Round Bay.  They caught me before the trail!  I latched on to the paceline and never looked at my speedometer, but later noted that we had over 28 mph on this stretch to the end.  I was behind Clint near the end, and slowed as he slowed, probably costing me my fastest average speed on that segment.  Coming back, the pace was still very fast.  I hung on until Glen Oban when I simply couldn’t hold the wheels any longer.  I was pushing a high average speed by that time and that knowledge kept me spinning at the top of my aerobic heart rate range.

I opted to keep the ride about 2 miles shorter than usual just to maintain the high average speed.  It worked.  This ride overall was my fastest this year, and yet, there were no records set on any of the segments I track.  I’m still not as strong as I was in October/November 2011, but I’m getting stronger.  I left nothing in the tank this morning, it was all out on the course.

And of course, no rain.  I was completely overdressed for that amount of effort.  I’m ready for an easier pace tomorrow.

This Ride: 19.9 miles
Month: 609.8 miles
2012: 1543.0 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 15,396.6 miles