Bromance rekindled

The first day back on the bike in a week, yep it felt strange and my body questioned me more than once. I questioned it also as I debated on my momentum being slowed by the wind or if my legs where really that cooked. I was lucky and it was the wind and after 40ish minutes the legs started to come around, the tightness loosened and the pace increased. I also renewed my romance with Chuck, as we road into the sunset of what would be called cottage country.

A quick stop for this.

After a bit of debate I've decided to leave the bmx in the basement for tonight. A test ride around the yard reminded me that I'm not 12 anymore and that I would probably crash horrifically over and over again on it. I'm just starting to feel good and recovered, I feel that poling at death with a mallet would not be a wise decision so there are a couple options for tonight. The cross bike is craving some abuse, the SS is always a go to or last resort is the TLC given Anthem that will be coming home from the shop this afternoon. Either way watching the antics of the twins will be entertaining enough for the masses. Training continues, let the fun begin.

Warming up for Worlds

I know that summer unfortunately is coming to a close when the World Cup championship are here. No I'm not talking about the ones that Mr Watson is at, I'm talking about the real ones, the Wednesday night one. It's the last night for the season this Wednesday and that means something special must be ridden to run done all the up and coming kids. There is no age categories, there is no mercy rule for a 6 year old. We will be racing amongst them so to equal the playing field I've opted to ride something of equal or lesser value for the last night.

That's right, I'm rockin the bmx for tomorrow night. I was nice and took off all the pegs, partly for the kids, they work well at taking out a f spokes, partly for me, the inability to lean the bike more than a few degrees could lead me to death if they were on. Also swapped out the flat pedals for something I'm a little more comfortable with. I'm still concerned that the ridged fork is going to hurt me a little over the 8 km course. Of course I will do my very best RAD impression, I'm interested to see what the twins bring this year.

Tonight will be an easy ride to easy back into the training thing. One full week of the bike seems to have made the body feel better minus the sore body parts from last weekend, hopefully it leads to a great September.

The 24 hours of Killarney

That's almost the perfect description of the weekend as Jacob, Liz, Shannon, the 2 dogs and myself headed north for a non bike weekend. It was far from a sit on the dirt in some campground surrounded by many other car campers, not this group. Arrival time to the launch on Bell lake was 3pm, yes a bit later than we all would have liked but it is what it is. Multiple portages finally got us on to David Lake where we would be staying the night, if we could find an empty campsite. As we paddled every liquidy inch of the lake we finally ended up at the farthest site on the lake. We should have just went to the end and worked are way back. Set up and food was started quickly and by 7pm we were ready to chill and eat. Campfire stories began with attempts of making Loon's a gang type attacking bird. It was pretty unsuccessful.

Like usual camping leads to early mornings, for some of us, normal wake up for others. Yet another great meal, fueling for the day would be essential. Another hour paddle fully loaded in the return direction but this time it was a portage, drop and leave. On to the hike of the day up to the top of Silver Peak. A good pace, especially for two weak frail cyclists who tried to keep up with the women. The climb is always worth the view and as we broke through the tree line the wind increased. After the exertion it felt great. Some more food and photo shoot at the top to say we were there was done. No AWI Racing flag left on the top, not this time.

The decent down is almost harder as you look at the sharp point rocks, of course Jacob and I were looking at what lines we would take through it if we had our bikes. An hourish later we were back in the canoe and heading towards the final portage back to Bell Lake. 780 meters feels more like 2340 feet. The winds increased and our hope for a tail wind on the last lake were of course shut down as we battled through the results of that hurricane on the east coast. We slide up on the shore just before 3 pm. According to 24 hour racing rules we could have gone back out for our last lap of the lake, we had time but are lead was solid and we strapped the canoes to the cars and headed south in search of food and beer.

The beer was good, the food was questionable. A great weekend away from 24 hour racing of bikes, the next block of training and racing is about to start. 4 tired people, 2 exhausted dogs. Yep a great weekend.

Fun in a special way

What happens when you have to much energy stored up because of you lack of riding? Dangerous idea start and the time to do it follows. A visit to The Bike Stop mid afternoon turned into an evening of entertainment at the team president decided to step up and double dog challenge all other race team directors to show their commitment. Not on a race course, not even on a bike, nope Tristan Spurr has risked all to entertain us with thrills and laughter. Ladies and gentleman welcome to the greatest show on earth or at least the Oro Medonte area until the tractor pulls this fall.

There is not much I can say that the pictures below can't describe better. There were video's taken, the editing is currently taking pace by others.










Some may say this is childish and dangerous, you're right but it's also fun and sometimes you need to mix that back into your life in this crazy world.

I just realized that this is the first 24 hour I won't be at in 6-7 years. Strange, good luck to those that are playing this weekend.

a mini vacation

A the lack of riding continues the time was easily filled in with other to do's. Cleaning and tuning bikes has seemed to be at the top of the list. A close second is weekend prep, normally I'd be planning for a long ride at the 24 hour instead its for a short camping trip with a long hike mixed in. AWI racing takes on Silver Peak in Killarney this weekend where some of us will show off our upper body strength and some won't during the couple hours of paddling and portages. Life on the bike will return when we return..

where it's at

So where am I at? It's day by day on what will happen for the rest of this season. Aft a double treatment from two smart people and a list of what to do's made up from them and me the hip is feeling a bit better. The first thing on the list for this week, no bike. A full rest week away from e two wheels, I haven't done this since, ummm, hmmm. last October. Of course that no bike thing doesn't start until today because last night was the perfect night for a MNS ride. I'll post a classic picture of one of my teammates antics and McGyever repair for a broken helmet.

Next on the list, an excessive amount of stretching, yoga, relaxation and some other means of movement to recover. This weekend has us north bound with a canoe and some hiking trails, this week may be some other form of strolling. I've told myself that no decision on racing will be made until next week. I don't expect the body to be fully cured in 5 days but as long as I see progress and can start training again comfortably the fall 8 hour is the last focus for this year.

Think I'll pour another cup of coffee. I've got some time

Mountainview 9 hour

So what happened? I myself am still trying to figure it out. Things just came to a screaming painful halt on Saturday. The normal start to everything, Mr Watson and I were babbling smack talk at one another before the race, Jacob was mixing in his comments also. It was going to be one of those days, it should have been a fun one of those days. The Mountainview 9 hour is nice and low key, even the start. Nobody lined up until literally one minute to go. No elbows through, fighting for a spot at the front. Go.

It didn't take me long to know something was a little off, I just didn't know what. First lap and second lap had Mr Watson leading the solo's with Jacob and I together. Of course I worked a lot harder to keep the same pace. It wasn't that I couldn't keep up, it was that I kept hitting things. One part of me wanted to go one way another a different line. With every bobble I worked a little bit to catch back on. Mountainview is one of those very unforgiving places, you need to stay smooth. I normally don;t have a problem with that, until now. At first I thought it was tire pressure, then was it my suspension, I started to over analyze everything as I continued to ride like a rookie. I was confused, I was also starting to become very tight on my right side.

I caught up with Jacob on the 3rd lap and stayed with him on the 4th, even he made the comment about my inability to avoid things or to roll over the simpliest root. At the end of the 4th lap my back was very unimpressed with me, I stopped for a second, lowered the rear suspension pressure a little. I was looking for anything at this point. The next lap was slow, very slow. My pedal rotation had become notchy by the 2nd lap and on the 5th looked like I was taking a break on every rotation. Crossed the line after the 5th and took off my helmet. No defending the solo category for me this year.

Spent the next couple hours doing a little support when Mother Nature decided to remind us how small we are and shut the race course down with style. The old man sedan became a popular place with Top Gear playing in the dash. After the restart and some rest I opted to try and ride again. 3 more laps but by the end things again were feeling like crap. Some more sideline cheering.

So what's going on with my body, lots. Currently my right hip hates me. It's very much muscular, the hard part is figuring out where it's starting from. I'm currently shorter on the right side and also twisted a the waist. It explains a lot, I've always had a bit of a problem with my right side being tight but this went to a new level and shut me down. It has me wondering about the rest of the season, this week will be spent away from any type of intensity. The padded room will be a popular place also with some serious stretching time put in. The fall 8 hour is still 6 weeks out, the fitness is there, I felt amazing last weekend at Sir Sam's. We will see what comes of the body over the next couple weeks.

There were some highlights for me during the 9 hour, some life related, some bike related. It was still a good day besides the frustration. Sunday was spent cheerleading Shannon at the Xterra where she finished 5th. Not bad for someone who hasn't trained much. Life moves on, I see Dr. Bill tonight, hoping for some simple miracle cure for my body. Hoping!

The day before the day of a long day. I'm doing my normal prerace prep of a pot of coffee to hydrate, over eating every high calorie thing I can find and washing it all down with some dark beer as the pain killing anti inflamatory . It has worked in the past, don't change what works. Being stuffed and drugged before the race is sometimes what is needed before hand, it's the only way to get someone to roll up to the start line for 9 plus hours of abuse. Distraction works, at least on me, for a moment or two. Race rundown Sunday. Promise.

A change of scenery

I've hit that point in the season that a bit of change is needed, not dramatic but just something to stir up the regular routine. The miles have added up and the scenery has not changed much. Yep it's that time that road rides are all the same if there shorter than 3 hours. I've ridden every paved road in a 50 km radius so often that I'm bored of them. This usually happens at this time of the season and I'm left with a couple options, one is to just shut up and pedal and remember that you have some of the best road riding in Ontario in your backyard so quit your whining. The next is to put the bike on the car and drive 15 minutes in any direction and start there. Of course this would be a last resort. Instead I pulled out the best option.

Some quality time was spent last night on the cross bike riding gravel rail trails, gravel roads and even a small section of atv trail. It was what I needed, I think it will be something I may do a little more often for the rest of the season. As much as there are some great low traffic paved roads in the area being out on a road where there may be one or two cars a day traveling on it is amazing. I know I made a couple people shake their heads last night. Riding past a few homes where most a shocked to see a car on their road, seeing a cyclist go by is almost as strange as seeing a ufo land and put crop circles in their fields.

Weekend is shaping up, legs feel like crap, the rest of the body feels about the same, pretty much the norm so not stressing about it. It's just a long bike ride with others. Mother Nature is looking like she's in a good mood, this should keep the riders in a good mood. Fun times ahead.

The next ramp up

It's evil to say but it felt like fall yesterday. The wind had a little crisp in it, the sun was a little less intense. It was still warm but it was just a little hint that summer is winding down. That also means the race season is winding up also in the round two of racing. There are barely any brakes from now till holidays in October. Let the fun begin.

It sounds like the 9 hour will be a little more of a challenge than previous years. The course is great, always a mountain bikers course, good climbs great technical and so many turns that your eyes are more exhausted than the legs by the end of the day. Always a good day and with the list of of solos a lot deeper it will be tougher than any other year. AWI Racing will of course be sending a full threat of Andrew, Jacob and myself. Of course those in the know have seen one member attempt to blow up other teammates, there will be no team strategy here and I'll be doing my best to hold on. There are a couple others signed up as well that will make this at least a 4-5 rider race. Should be a good day with pie for all. If your on the fence, just do it. There is day of registration if your pausing.

I'm working on my bonus event training this week. This could be the way to beat Mr Watson.

Sir Sam's Ski & Bike 4 hour

Why have you never heard of it? It's new and can see this also becoming a very poplar event. It was a mini bachelor weekend for me, Shannon is away so I took advantage of the man time and I, hmm, I went and rode my bike. Ya I know, nothing out of the ordinary, typical morning start and the just under 2 hour drive north to Sir Sam's just north of Haliburton. For some in the know, this was a part of the 3rd day of Crank the Shield and from some FYI from a teammate I was told I would have a fun day up there. That was an understatement, I had a blast and plan on being back next year.

Now the race, I really wasn't thinking about the race side of it, just a 4 hour training ride on the side of a ski hill. When ever you're at the bottom of a ski hill looking up knowing where you are going you just wonder how much that climb is going to hurt. Lined up with the group and waited for the countdown, it was a pretty fast paced start, I settled in a few riders back as we made our way to the bottom of the hill. A right turn and up we went. No pre ride of the climb so I kept it pretty chill, chill meaning I wasn't fighting back puking during the climb. Like every ski hill it hurt but it was a fun hurt. The crew at Sir Sam's made the switchback climbs flowy with just enough breaks along the way to not make you fall over at the top. There were some single track sections thrown in to just to break up the climb. The climb was actually fun.

Once on top, which had an amazing view of the lake, no I didn't stop to spectate, we cut in to a new section of trail that was like riding at home. Tight, rooty turns mixed with some random rock gardens to keep you on your toes. I was smiling, that's when the fun began. What goes up gets to go down. This place is known for downhill races, they did keep us on the chill side of the descents but still awesome with bermed corners and random jumps. Yes I was giggling on the downhills. First lap done, left turn, it's always a left turn and it was back up again. Ramped up the pace a bit and settled in. It was going to be a fun 4 hours.

I have to admit that I enjoy the low key events more and more. Everyone was laid back and friendly, there were a couple young kids racing, under the age of 10, the future is looking bright. The laps added up the time diminished. One interesting note was the course was short, Was steady with sub 17 minute laps. This meant a lot of climbing. At the 3 hour mark I chilled a little on the climbs, the race was done at 4 hours, not the normal you need to start your last lap at 3:59:59. That's when it happened. With 15 minutes left, I was ready to go ride around the parking lot for a bit when they said if you get to this point on the course by this time it counts.

Shit, you know I have to do it. Turned for the hill, locked out both the front and back shocks and pinned it with everything I had up the side of the hill. It hurt, I battled cramps, I kept pushing. Caught a rider from Cycle Cambridge and tried to get him to hold on so he could make the time cut off. That hill can put the hurt into you. It was a good hurt though, it felt great to making my body do something it really didn't want to do and do it semi well. Pushing through the woods I knew it would be close. 24 seconds before the cut off time close. It felt great.

The overall rundown, fun course, really fun. Great organizers, everyone was friendly and helpful, great location also. This has Ontario Cup potential., a great mix of everything. This one will grow for sure. Yes, I did win, climbed up and coasted down 14 times, it was a great way to spend a Saturday. Worked out well as prep for next weekend. Mark it on your calendars for next year, it's worth the drive north.

So what's up for today? The road bike is calling my name, followed by a team pub ride. Some calories need to be replaced. Congrats to Mr. Watson for winning the East Coast Open spiral of death, first round of beers????

Not influenced

You might have to race in it so might have to train in it. This was followed by a couple choice four letter words as I rolled out of the parking lot of Copeland just as a dark cloud of potential misery drifted over top of my location and let loose the wet stuff. 10 minutes in I was already soaked and dirty, might as well keep going now. The weekend is potential filled with the same conditions. Turned out to be a good ride with lots of climbing, just as much descending and a slight return to having some technical skill. It's been a while since I've been on the Anthem let alone in single track. Felt good. It was also needed for this weekends excitement.

Like usual I put up a poll, like usual I'm completely ignoring the results and doing what I want. I'm heading someplace completely different this weekend. With the Mountainview 9 hour coming up the best way to train for a race at a skill is to go to a race at a ski hill. No I'm not talking about the East Coast open at Blue, I'm heading north yeat again to someplace I've never been to do a race I've never done. So where is my adventure this time leading me? Sir Sam's 4 hour in Haliburton will be the playground Saturday. This came up as a last minute race and just happened to work into the schedule. I don't know much about the area except that they have trails, they run a downhill mountain bike races there and it's in the middle of no where. Should be fun. No expectations, no idea who will be there, just going to ride my bike and see what happens.

World Cup Wednesday has been moved to tonight, different venue, same approach. More tomorrow.

Didn't expect that

Excuse me, you need to get off the road, I'm riding here. I've seen lots of different things while riding, I started to think that very little would make me shake my head in a bit of a stunned daze. Well this one caught me. Doing that stuff that needed to be done and in between sets I had my head down for a few seconds coasting while catching my breathe, looked up and felt very confused. That bush is moving, wait a few of those bushes are moving. It's not windy, wait those bushes are almost on the road now. When did they grow heads? At first the flash of Little Shop of Horrors popped into my head and I was going to get eaten by some strange new highbred plant then I realized what it was. Why are there Llamas on the edge of the road? Shannon cleared it up for me that they may have been something called El'pakas. Not sure if that's spelt right. It was a very hairy thing that looked like a llama.

Now the interesting thing here, there was no fence holding them in, I was on a dead end low travel road, they weren't there on the way down the road 10 minutes earlier. Did I hallucinate them from teh lack of oxygen coming in? Who knows. Ride besides that was good, legs are still feeling questionable but life rolls along. Mother Nature was nice and broke the sky open for me keeping me warm and dry for the couple hours that I needed. Not sure what today will bring.

What's to come,

Time has been flying along, it's almost stunning to think that it's already August. This had me down in the basement putting in a little quality TLC time to a few of the bikes, more so the cross bike. This season seems to be filled with every race that I haven't done and wanted to rather than the normal collection. Could this possibly mean that I'll do some cross races? Possibly. There will be a vacation dropped right in the middle of it but there is a stronger chance this season that I'll put myself in the red line for an hour in questionable weather conditions on a skinny tired bike. Woo Hoo, sounds like shits and giggles to me.

Of course there are some of those old favourites that we just love doing. The one in the lens right now is the Mountainview 9 hour. I was back in forth on doing it this year, well it's looking like there is a strong chance on playing at one of the most enjoyable endurance races in Ontario. What changed or leaned me to doing the race. The step up of a few AWI Racing members to join in the fun. The details are still not confirmed, line up not for certain. Regardless, you should go to this race, it's awesome, you get pie!!!! Everyone likes pie. That's why we ride bikes, to eat mass amounts of food.

Looks like I'll be chasing some summer manride points today with a tough workout in what looks like a rain and lighting filled day. Fun. Coffee needed

Put in a small room

It was a weekend of indoor thrill and excitement. Short post, still recovering. Put in one solid ride but the weekend was spent in the bathroom. Normally when one spends this much time in the washroom it's linked to something horrible, in some cases this was the truth. There was a bit of frustration involved with removing the old bathtub, which weighed as much as a car to installing the new piping for the shower. It was fun, then not fun, then horrible, then frustrating, then it became fun again as things finally started to come together at the end of a second day. This is just have of what needs to be done but hopefully the worst of the reno.

Training resumes this week, along with continued work on the bathroom. Some plans for races have possibly been altered, to the better. Lots going on, little time to do it.

I make special deal for you

The last week has been an interesting one, training is training but it's been the fun of emails that has kept it entertaining. There is now engine knocking tractor wagon in the driveway parked beside the old man sedan, that's not the entertaining part. It's been the attempts to sell Shannon's Versa online. I've met some interesting people so far with some very interesting jobs. I'm a little jealous and feel that I haven't done enough with my life that I can live off shore on a oil rig or a cruise ship. I just have a boring life fixing things.

A few were really fun, I had the same email from the same address for both the Versa and the Fiero. Yes, I'm selling the little hot rod if the price is right. It's still sitting under a car cover two years later. My response to this particular email was something along the lines of this "If you buy both cars I make special deal for you, I will even include my sister in the price." Sorry Jenn, I couldn't offer a first born child and nobody would want the dogs, you were next in line since I technically can't offer my wife until she is my wife. I hope Rick won't be made. Funny enough I never heard back from this scammer. Has he met my sister? Maybe he doesn't like tall women.

I've also been having some fun with a gentleman named Tony. Tony is a sailor, a sailor from Scarbrough. That says it all, you know Tony is totally legit. He wants to have a new ride sitting in his garage when he gets back in a month or two. I've had fun leading him on. Showing him a little doubt to see what he will say to renew my confidence that he is legit. I even got vulgar with him at one point but he tried and managed to turn it around and made me have faith in him that he really was a honest guy. I like Tony, I want to sell Tony the car. I wonder how Tony will pay for the car. Maybe I should give him my credit card number so he can put a huge payment on it? I wonder how many cars Tony owns??

I know that people get scammed by these type of people, I wonder how sometimes. I try to have faith that society is still filled with good people, of course with good people that are always the assholes like Tony who try and do take advantage of those that also believe that people are honest. It's a bit of a disappointment in the human race that people like Tony don't have enough of a conscious to realize what they are doing. I wonder if Tony has tried to buy his grandmother's car yet. Hopefully he does. Doubt it would make a difference.

For those looking, Fiero for sale, Versa may be sold to either Tony or my Mom. If I managed to scam my Mother, opps sell to my Mother we have a Protege 5 for sale, Please only send an email if you are actually on dry land. I think I've had my fill of oil rig workers and sailors.

A return

It's been a while since I've been down to the Wednesday night world cup, it was due. The only way to remind the body how to ride at race pace is to race. Conditions were a little questionable so I pulled out the single speed. The layer of dust on it disappeared pretty quick in the rain. A week warm up lead to showing what happens when you don't check the bike before you ride it. My front brake continued to get softer with each use. By the time it was race time I could pretty much pedal with the lever to the bar. What a great way to start back into vomit pace riding.

The start was interesting, watched two AWI members pin it off the line and drive the pace up. Mine was limited by a 32-16 but another rider decided to chase. At the end of the start climb they pulled off. I just kept my pace where it was, painful. Into the single track my front brake's weakness started to cause me a little problem. As I squeezed both brakes equally the natural reaction is to wait for resistance on the levers, there was none from the front causing me to squeeze more and more, as I did this the back wheel locked up. Some drifting was done. Add in the slick conditions and semi slick tire with a topping of not much in the line of trail riding in the last couple weeks I pretty much felt like a rookie. Amazingly enough I didn't crash anyone out including myself.

Eventually I did cross the line. Surprisingly I wasn't as slow as I thought I was going to be. Of course it was a bunch of fun. 1 gear, one brake, 1 lung (it felt), there is hope to get faster when you double anyone one of these items up.

No tittle

Calm Monday, one of those long weekend Monday's where you know you should do something but nothing seems to get done. It was great. Training took a back seat to some grown up things that needed to be dealt with. Looks like there will be a different vehicle sitting beside the old man sedan by the weekend. It's silver,boxy, and has an engine that makes a funny knocking sound but it's going to be more practical.

It's funny, a few months ago spring had just arrived and it seemed like such a long summer ahead. It's now on the backside of the season and disappearing quickly. Things that were planned to be done haven't even been approached yet, time flies. I need coffee.

Point to point

I no longer think I can start and stop a ride at the same place anymore. Seeing the same section of road at the beginning and the end will be the start and finish of torture after dong a point to point ride Saturday. It was another attempt at a Top Gear style race, a bike versus a car, not just any bike but the Chuck Norris bike and not just any car, but my old man sedan which as many know isn't all that old mannish.
The challenge, see how far I can get before I get caught, the true end goal was Shannon's parents place in Peterbourgh.

So I did have some advantages over Shannon in the car. I was leaving before her, obviously. I also wasn't going to be affected by traffic the same way. Shannon had to drive north from work in cottage country traffic before changing vehicles and then heading south chasing me. In a race type mentality I hoped she got held up in traffic, in a personal thought I was hoping the roads were clear. The later was the case and I roughly had a 2.5 hour head start. I did screw up my lead a little with a couple stops that lost me valuable miles and time. What I did get though was a great tail wind most of the way. It almost balanced out. Almost.

Once south of Orrilia the new road thrills began, it was great riding somewhere I'd never been. Being slightly off the beaten track traffic was next to non existent, on a side note so was cell phone coverage. I wasn't to concerned about that until I came across a very long stretch of ripped up pavement. I was traveling with a little protection but of course you don't want to use it if you don't need to. There was no option to bypass it, many km heading in the wrong direction that would have lost my current huge lead. I had no choice and took to the gravel. Luckily it was pretty solid, pace only dropped a little but that 4-5 km of non blacktop was a bit nerving. I waited for that feeling of a soft tire, it never happened. The next construction sign I saw was at the opposite, fresh pavement. Must love balance.

Saw sections of the Trent Severn waterway, small towns, huge farm land, great rolling hills, then came the texts. They were random but when they came there were lots as I gained and lost cell coverage. She was gaining, quickly. My 35 km/h was no match to the old man sedan's 80 plus. I subconsciously picked up the pace, I had a secondary goal, I knew there was no way I was making it to the house. Had I left at my originally planned start an hour earlier maybe, but not now. The lead was falling fast. The good thing, the legs weren't.

Some random lefts and rights for me lead to some confusing directions for my rolling stalker gave me a slight advantage. There was hope for the second alternative meeting point. Km's counted down then with returning text on locations between Shannon and I. She was only 3minutes behind me. I was only 5 minutes away. Gotta go, gotta go. That's when the phone rang. "Where are you?" We were two roads apart and some how now on a head on collision. I wasn't being chased, I'd already lost, to the car. Shannon beat me to Lindsay. We crossed paths, I'd lost, I spun my legs out slowly with my head down. The bike lost to the car, Chuck lost to an Old Man. I pulled over and put him on the roof of the car and finished the trip by car.

It was amazing though with just shy of 4 hours of new roads. Legs felt great, very great actually. The ramp up for the Fall 8 hour has started, a new reminded love of the road bike has begun also. Another spin yesterday on the road and once the coffee is gone this morning, Chuck will come out of the shadow's for another blast, this time at a pace he is used to and one that I cringe having to do. It hurts, Chuck likes it, Chuck doesn't feel hurt, Chuck brings the hurt.