The miles of spring

It is not the spring so much as the moments of warm weather. After the long season of winter riding every warm moment is a prize. Riding my #1 bike, over the winter bike. Seems like a small thing. Not so much for me. Riding a bike, the #1 bike, is such a joy. A bike that just has something special. It feels so light and delivers power so directly. I push it goes! Climbing feels much better. Not so much faster. Just better, as if there is magic in the frame. Got to like that. The #1 frame is not even that high end of the Cannondale line. Still a VERY good frame. I have climbed 3 and 4 hour climbs in the Cascade Mountains with this bike and always finished first in my group. By alot! 30 mins and longer once! That should never happen as I am a BIG rider at 215 pounds and 6'5". Now I am just bringing this up to show how good this #1 frame is. So when I took it out for it's first ride since winter 5 months ago. The feel was so exciting. As posted, 60.4 miles in 4 hours. That's just training to. Then my next ride, the ride this blog is about, was on the winter bike. 55 miles in 4 hours. It's just like that, the #1 bike has something special in it. So here's for the good weather. Here's to Cannondale. Speed is body and bike working together. Well, and 4200 mile since January first. That helps.

The last 100 mile

No, it's not the last 100 miles to be ridden. Well I hope not! It is the post of the last 2 rides to get current.
Thursday was a 40 miler. It turned out to be 41 in 2 hours 50 mins. Not to bad. I was happy with the effort. I was happy with the day and weather. 56 degrees and sunny. Just a little over dressed, but not much. Still having worries about getting cold. There have been some rough rides in the last few weeks. So, I carried a thin jacket and extra pair of long finger gloves in the rear pockets. It all just turned out to be extra weight. The wool vest was a little warm and was wet by the time I got home. The wet wool vest also made the last few miles a little cold from the evaporation. The best way to dress is in a jersey and vest, if needed, that are dry when you get home. The new fabrics do that well. So on this ride there was a little sweating that would not evaporate fast enough. It was a good course. Some of the few flats around here to run the big gears in. Good hard climbs to push hard on. About 50/50. The body was working well. The bike was working well. The weather was working well. Not a bad time to. Not many other riders out. Enough to give the wave to. I got home feeling good. Ate the food. Enjoyed being close to Mary Anne. The best part of any day.
Saturday:
Full blown sunny day with temps that would hit 62 for a few moments. It was like a new time had hit the Island. Every bike was out. It was a parade. All kinds of bikes. All kinds of color. More bare legs and arms than you could count. Still, mostly the bikes were out in the AM, before the temps were warm enough for me. I was waiting for the warmest part of the day. I have been on the roads all winter and I'm tired of the cold. So I was waiting. Also it was still to cold to ride with bare legs and arms for this old horse. Although the outfit was light, there were still arm and leg warmers on. I was glad of it to. The shadows and down hill descents were still cold for my bare skin. I am a "serious training" old guy. There are rules for the body to keep it working at top speeds. Warm knees and blood are key to good performance. I saw 2 other serious riders on my ride and they both had arm and leg warmers on to. All the other folks were first ride of the season riders. More interested in there tan's. The tan will come soon enough. Oh, this was the first day of the Bayview Corners Farmers Market. It's a big deal and lots of fun. It will go on every Saturday till September some time. Mary Anne and I go all the time. The food is wonderful. A lot of the produce is wonderful to. there is one lady, "Back Door Bakery", that bakes the #1 pie. Her apple crumble is just one of my favorites. You have to get there early as she sells out by noon or earlier. All her stuff is first rate. So the day was a parade of sorts. My ride goes right past the Market. The smells and sounds were so cool. Music, people doing entertainment, color, smells and way to to many cars. Though there is a very good bike lane going through this area. No problems. From there it was of to my roads. All the roads I have ridden all winter. Plus a few more. I did some of the climbs twice! Oh,it was great. I was dressed perfect. I had gels and ZipFizz. All my flat tire gear was in my jersey pocket not on the bike. I had my favorite jersey and bib tights on from "Competitive Cyclist". I looked simple Continental. Ready to join the squad down the road for our "day at the office". It was glory. I was riding the #1 bike. New chain and New Campy rear derailleur with a mid size hanger. Everything was perfect. The effort was good but, not over the top. Once I was warmed up I just worked big gears all the ride. The hills were a little hard as I was riding the 39 tooth crank that was also the 53 tooth crank. I had been riding the 50X34 all winter on the #2 bike. It's close to the same for the mid range. It's the high and low range on the #1 bike that make the effort different. It's just 2" different for the climbing gear, but on the really hard and steep climbs that makes a difference in how fast the legs can turn over. I went up all the steepest climbs. I did some twice as I said. Man the other stuff was fast. That big old 53X12 is a great gear to go fast in. I was just hammering. 22 MPH all the time. The speeds were so much fast on this bike. Well, 4 hours later to the min. I was home. Still feeling. Not beat into the road. I check the mileage. 60.4 miles in 4 hours. Not bad for a training ride with 2 stops for fuel and my meds with a little tighten of my saddle to. Bring on the warm weather. I am ready.

Minke in the Bay

It was the same old morning. Coffee and pills. Ease into the day. Hope the pain was going to keep it's distance. Than I saw what I had always hoped to see in the bay on my morning coffee. 6:22 AM a whale broke the surface of the water and came into my view. I was thrilled! The birds were following it's every move. Looking for a meal I'm sure. I was glued to the binoculars. For 20 mins and 8 time I saw this great animal of the inland waters of Puget Sound. The water here on our big bay are VERY shallow for about half the bay. There must be a lot of food in the bay this morning. The Minke Whale was in the deep part right up to the edge of the shallows where it then drops off and gets very deep. It was thrilling and a little worry some to. Was this a sick animal looking to beach it self and die. It was so close to where it was sand on a extra low tide. As I watched and wondered the Minke came up and dove down showing it's Fluke (tail), and then was gone. I have not seem the whale since. What a morning coffee. Though I am going to keep an eye on the up come extra low tide in a few hours today.

That's More Like It

No ice. No snow. No bone chilling cold. 55 degrees felt like a mid summer day. I was a little over dressed, but, not much. I carried a thin jacket in my jersey pocket if I needed it. Just extra weight is all it turned out to be. Not to mention the extra pair of long finger gloves. Just did not want to be cold if the weather took a turn. Weather was good but, on the edge. The good edge was during the ride. 3 hours and 23 mins., 50 miles. Now my last ride was about the same time and 33 miles. What a difference. Climbing in a stout gear. Taking on Swede hill and feeling fresh. Feeling good for most of the ride. It was good to see that I was coming back to a normal kind of form after the cold weather and intestinal flu. I was just hoping it would all come back together. So hurry for some warm weather.

Swallows and Band-Tailed Pigeons

Yesterday evening, as if on some cue. The Swallows come back to this area to do what they do best. Eat bugs and lots of them. I took this as a sign that the better part of Spring was here. This morning at the bird feeders it was Band-Tailed Pigeons. Both these birds, the Swallows and the Band-Tailed Pigeons go South for the winter. Their return a sure sign the warmer weather must be close. It started snowing at about 10:30 AM this morning. Not a blizzard, but cold mixed rain and snow. Cold was the word for the day. A ride day. I was looking for a way out of this ride. There was no way. Even if I wanted to. I had to do the miles. At 11:30 AM I could not see across Puget Sound for the snow that was coming our way. It was 38 degrees and April 18th. It was going to get colder to. The weather event was coming from the North. I just could not wait any longer. So out into the wet/snow and cold I went. My heaviest gear on. 2 pair of gloves, one neoprene. A very heavy wool vest. I was as ready as I knew how to be for this. Out I went. Another 40 miler. Down the roads to the first climb of Lone Lake Road. It was snowing that wet does not stick snow with a little hail. Hum, back down the hill to Langley. Well that's the short version. Back up out of Langley past all the schools. It was as much rain as snow. More like a glass full of water with ice to cool it down. It was to cold to push to hard. Plus I was still on the mend from the food poisoning. Just working on not working to hard. Building my body back up, not tearing it down. The snow was getting a little heaver. Maybe more snow than rain. My hands were starting to get cold. It was way early for the hands to start freezing up. My feet were starting to get cold to. Even with thick neoprene booties on. My feet were starting to freeze. I was not even to the top part of my ride. The area where it is always cold and tree covered. Holst Road hill. A nice climb to the ridge of one of the taller hills in the area. As I climbed the temperature fell fast. The snow took over. It was so cold and I was now so cold I had to change my plans. I went down Heggenes hill instead of climbing it. In the snow. I was really freezing at this point. I was going to have to make it home fast. Numb hands and feet now. Neoprene was no help at all today. That's never happened to me before. I cut back for home on French Road hill. Still up a little high. Going down French hill I was pelted hard with snow and a lot of hail. I could barely turn a gear over. I think everything was freezing up. A couple of small but hard climbs and I was home. 2 hours 45 mins and 33 miles. Wow, I think the Swallows and the Pigeons had it wrong for today. As I write this there is another snow front coming across the Sound. It's colder now than it was at 10 AM. It was a hard day in the saddle.

Shadows at my Back

My ride on the 16th was again cold. Not so cold though. Mid 40s and air moist as rain but not raining. Even a sun beam was out. Then it were gone. Just another ride to go out and train no matter what. Man, I'm looking for some warm weather to break. It was going to be an easy 50 mile ride. Just turn over the cranks. Do the job and do it right. I'm still repairing from the over training. Also the mental difficulty of going out in this endless wet cold. Keeping the faith to the road. Saying my prayers to the circuit. Keeping the Reaper behind. Keeping a good distance on this ever pursuing competitor.
So what was different. Nothing was working in my legs. The body was just hammered in the first mile. Lactic acid or lack of electrolytes. Maybe my potassium was down. I have naturally low potassium. I'm also taking my high blood pressure medication again after being out for months. The result is a much lower heart rate even under stress. My normal going up hill heart rate is 163. Now with this med it's 134. Less blood and O2 getting to the muscles. It all adds up to poor performance. Even on the flatter roads it was just an effort to roll over the gears. What's an old fart to do. Well not 50 miles today that for sure. It was all I could do to manage 41 and then I was a basket case. Just to tired to stand. I hit the chair and just lowered my head. It was to heavy to hold up. I had noticed this on the last 10 miles of the ride. My head was just to heavy to hold up. I did manage to eat some chicken. Protein in the first 30 mins after the ride is good. It did not help at all. I was still just drained.
As it turned out there was some other factors that were not working in my favor. Before the ride my best friend was the bathroom. It was a fast trip all together. I was hoping that was it. No, just before going out the door I had to talk to my best friend again. Take off half my gear to do it to. I hoped that was it! Out on the road it was OK except I could not ride so well. Then going up Heggene's Hill it was bad. I was looking for any place to stop. After 3 miles there was a construction site with a nice chemical friend. An un-locked chemical friend. Thank the stars and the rules that these chemical friends must be on a building site. As I finished one of the contractor's gave me the it's OK nod, anytime. On home was safe for the need. As it turns out both Mary Anne and I were making friends in the same way. We both think we have food poisoning. I started drinking as much ZipFizz as I could. It is a sports drink with tons of electrolytes. I did start to feel a little better. After all it was Bingo Night at the Senor Center. Can't miss that! So I think we both have food poisoning from some meat we had. Hamburger may be the sinner. Maybe not to. It's a hard one to tell. The timings right for the hamburger.
So today the 17th is repair day for this old body. Be careful what I eat. Be thoughtful what I drink. Think about what the body needs to replace all that is missing. Hope it's the food, not, the drugs I need to take everyday. My blood pressure was very high at the Doctors office, 170 over 78. Man that's bad! That Reaper just never gives up. Well I'm not giving up ether.

Tax Day

So the post is about yesterday. April 14th. A day that took me back. Winter came home again and it's here to stay for a bit. The glories of Saturday just a crack in the door of what's to come later. Winter is now back and in control. 39 degrees, wet, a bit of wind to chill it down and make the ride a little tougher. I so wanted to ride in light gear. Just a jersey, bib tights, arm and leg warmers, regular gloves. That was not for yesterday, no not at all. It was winter gear and the winter bike again all over. Neoprene was a welcome sight. So once again I was ready to battle the weather. To make the miles and do the circuit. Keep the training going no matter what. On the road again in the winter of this little Island.
As I went down the first mile of wet road I knew I had picked the wrong gloves. Still hoping they would do over heavy winter gloves. Bad choice. So I stopped into Half Link the local bike shop to find a pair of new winter gloves. No turning back for me at this point. David and his wife were busy working on bikes brought in on Saturdays glory. Bikes that thought it was summer. Bikes that thought it was time to be dusted off again. Take there owners for the adventures of the road and trail. So both David and his partner looked up and smiled with a slight glance outside at the rain and cold. "Where did it go" David asked. "Not here" was my reply. I was looking for a good pair of warm water proof gloves. David had a pair of thin neoprene gloves in my size. I put them on, on the spot. As I stepped out the door. I looked back to the 2 and said, "you know I'm tough, but I sure would like to see my naked finger again, have some warmer weather". This cold riding is getting hard. Testing my steel and my truth. Truth to the road. Out I went to do the mile, new gloves and all. Down the roads I know so well. Rain, hard cold spring rain. It had hailed a few mins ago. I was facing a white ride. Hard rain is tough to deal with. So up the first of the climbs. Just getting warmed up. Starting to know I would get this ride done. As I have done so many times before in winter weather. Even my face shows the signs of all the weather this winter season. The cutting cold of thousands of miles on the un-covered bare skin exposed to all this weather. Well here some more. Down the first climb at 25 to 30 MPH. Hard rain pounding on everything. It might even snow on Friday. That's the forecast. Friday is a ride day. First I finish this ride. One ride at a time. Down to Saratoga Road, right turn to Langley. Keeping the gears soft. Not putting to much pressure on as today was a recovery ride. I'm still doing some re-build from my over training of the recent past. Letting the muscles repair and build up. It's hard to force these low efforts. I always like to push harder. On easy efforts I'm looking behind me a lot. Looking for the rider coming up on me. The one that wants to pass me. Make me feel slow. It's hard to talk myself down from the push. I have started to use big gears on the flatter areas. Just roll the big gears over and not push them to hard. That way I get the speed up with out to much effort. Staying in the recovery zone but feeling fast. All this thinking and I was through Langley and up Maxwellton and cross SR-525 getting near the fun climbs of Jewett Road, Glendale Road, Holst Road, Deer Lake Road and Heggenes Road. All the best hill climbs in my circuit. The pace kind of climbs. Just ease up and stay out of the "Red Zone". It's good work. The best part of the ride. As I went up all this the tell tale signs of winter showed with white on the side of the road. White of winter. A fair amount of hail had collected at the tops of each climb. The sides of the roads were filled. It was real cold to. Winter at the top again. After all this, it was the turn for home. 15 miles to go on this 41 mile ride. Back to Langley. Up Bayview Hill. Then the FAST decent to Bayview Corners where "Half Link" is and on home 1 1/2 miles away. Just riding easy as I did the whole ride. Feeling good about the ride and the effort. Looking forward to a hot bath. A shower to. I was dirt up to the knees again. That's winter riding on April 14th.

Thursday and Saturday

Thursday was a nice ride in small gears, that's about that.
Now Saturday was a ride to write about. Perfect weather. Warmest day of the year so far. It got into the 60s, mid 60s! It started out at about 55 degrees. Still warmer than anything I have ridden in in 7 months. I was going to ride the #1 bike for the first time in forever. I had to re-build the #1 bike from ground up first. New campy brakes, strip and clean everything. It was not that bad and well lubed up. Just had to do the right thing to my favorite frame. Get everything first class for this magnificent weather. Re-do a few settings for my new form. Set the bars a little lower, the saddle a little higher and more forward. It's the little things that make all the difference for comfort and speed. Also a new front tire. The last one had a huge slash in it from a winter ride on the #2 bike. Everything was ready. Now the reduced gear to wear. Just a summer outfit with arm and leg warmers. Still not that warm in the shadows. There are a lot of shadows here on the Island. I was looking good in skin tight. I must have weighed 5 pounds less by not having on all the winter gear. I was pumped. Two bottles of ZipFizz energy drink. A few gels. All the tire gear in one of my 3 pockets of the Competitive Cyclist jersey. My white Sidi carbon fiber shoes. I could see my fingers for the first ride since October of 2007. I was ready to go. Just feeling and looking great. It was going to be a surprising. Oh, also I was running normal gears on my cranks, 53X39. I have been on 50X34 all winter. I checked the gear chart to remind me what gears use. Over all there not that much different. Just more power in the 53X39. I was ready for the power. It was going to be a normal route. Only a little longer. Not much though. I had been working short miles since I over trained. Doing the easy rides to build my system back up. Just 33 and 36 miles. That's a little short for me. So today would be close to 50 miles. I am in great shape and I can do almost any mileage I want. 20 to 100 miles I will be fine. Maybe 120 to 150 and I will have to stop a few times for fuel and a stretch. So 50+- would do for today. So as soon as I get out on the road in just mins I see the first group ride going the other way. A normal group the fast guys leaving the slow guys and the few middle guys wondering what to do. I was not interested in that. I wanted to do my own training. On thru Bayview Corners working my way to Lone Lake Road I came up on a rider. A century type rider. Older bike, but the guy could ride all day. I have seem his type. So I just did the stealth thing on his rear wheel for a bit to see how he rode. The hills slowed him up a bit. It was then that he noticed me on his wheel. In the past I would just dusted a guy like this off and leave him in my rear. These days I was interested to see who he was. Turned out to be an organizer type for long rides with his friends from Seattle. He had just moved to the Island 4 months before. He was very fit. Just not very fast. Fast enough to hang with for a bit. My age to, real old. His name was John and he lived about 10 miles from Mary Anne and I. On the other side of a big hill. There was going to be a big organizational meeting for a South Island Bike group. More political than anything.He pitched it to me and told me where and when. I promptly forgot. We did have a nice chat though. He took a left, I was going strait up Lone Lake Hill. Next time John. I was feeling so sparky. My legs were full of power from the easy rides. I was still holding back. Not trying to over do, but the #1 bike is such a fast and good bike on the hills. It just wants to go. No wasted effort on this bike. I push the peddles it goes strait to the wheels. Best bike I have ever ridden for the hills. I can climb 2 gears bigger than my other bike. 2 to 3 MPH faster to. Going up hill! It's very fast on the flats or rollers to. I got to Saritoga Road with it's steep section. Wondered how it would go. It went great. Still a very hard and steep hill, but not to long. Then it was a fast ride into Langley. Not over the top though. Fast and at a low heart rate. Pushing a big gear easy and shifting smart. Never saw the Red Zone. Did the easy ride through the town and off to Maxwellton Road. A easy climb to some flats on top past the schools and to the other side of SR 525. Everything was going good. I was having a few gear problems though. The gear on the rear wheel are on the old side and are worn. The chain was skipping on the smaller cogs. I was going to have to replace these. I also will replace the derailleur on the rear from a short cage to a mid size cage. Everything else was working perfect. The speed was so good. I guess there was a lot less drag having skin tight gear on. So on I went to all the hills I have learned to love. Yeah, I love hills. Well when I'm on my own. When I don't have some 150 pound person showing me how big I am. At 215 pounds the fight with weight really shows up with gravity. For now I am king of the climbs. I did all the normal climbs and had a great time. Then it was back towards Langley and cross SR 525 at Kens Corners. there is a fast down hill before the the traffic lights. I was going to get the green light if I hurried. I was going faster than the cars as I went through the light. I found out later that Mary Anne saw me as she was at Ken's Corners. I never saw her. I just kept going. Got my speed back down to a good pace and made my way to Langley now on Langley Road. I got to the town and it was about PILL time so I went through downtown Langley looking for a clock of some sort, nothing. Then I looked and saw one of those hills going from down town to out of town. Steep, long enough to hurt an old guy at the last 9 or so miles of a ride. I put my head down. Remained in the saddle and just went up easy as that. I was stunned at how well the bike and I did. At the top I was not even in the Red Zone. I had avoided this hill since we moved to the Island. Not a long climb, just steep. The kind people don't walk up very often. There it was, a fear turned out to nothing more than foolishness. After that it was more hills and good times. I was into the last part of the ride. The last 3 or so miles. I felt fine. I got home. I felt fine. I did not feel drained at all. I could have gone a lot longer. I could feel the winter miles in my legs telling me the effort was worth the time. The prize had been the work.

Tuesday Ride

Well it turned out that yesterday, Tuesday, was my first ride in a week. 7 days without a ride. I could hardly stand it! Still as in my last post, the ride was going to be easy with less miles. I mean I was ready for everyone to pass me that rode a bike on the Island. It was cold and wet and I was one of only a few out training. So the thought of getting passed turned out to be my own BS to myself. The ride did turn out to be 32 miles in a gear I normally climb shallow hills in. I barely broke a sweat. 2 hours 25 mins for 32 miles! Man that's slow. I never felt tired during the ride. I even climbed a nice hill of about a mile, French Road Hill. Felt great once my legs got into it. I kept the climb easy to. Just eased up the hill hardly breathing outside of normal. I got my first ride in in 7 days. Also half way through this ride the sun came out and the rain stopped. It made it all the way to 52 degrees. It felt like summer. I was dressed for wet and cold. A little over dressed. It was better than getting cold.
When I got home, dressed back into jeans and a warm shirt. Put down some food. Chicken soup with a chicken sandwich. During that time. Looking out over the bay and the back yard. Looking at all the local back yard birds we feed I saw one of the 6 eagles that live close by sitting in the fir tree right next to our yard. 30 yards away or closer. Very close. Wow, it was wonderful. Now I see these grand birds everyday close as they fly eye high just over the back yard. This one, the young one. Still in it's dark feathers of it's youth. It was just sitting there. Normally when their this close and they see any movement they fly off. Even not so close they fly away. This young bird was warming himself in the sun. I looked around and saw what I think is his parents doing the same in their perch tree 100+ yards away and at the very top of a tall fir tree. The one close was just right there! So I got the camera out a took a few shots. It's my photo for the post. I even went out to fill our back yard bird feeders where this giant could watch every move I made. He still did not fly off. That's never happened so close to an eagle. It was one of those rare moments with birds.

OTS

Thursday came and went. It's now Saturday. No ride since Tuesday. My body just didn't have it in it to go. I slept almost all of Wednesday. Still very tired on Thursday. Just starting to recover on Friday. Over Training Syndrome (OTS). It's when the body has used it self up and can't recover through rest. I was working hard and not resting well enough. It was not the food. It to some degree was not the rides. It is my age. My body just needs better rest between rides. Rest is where all the benefits of the work out come. Add to this I am diabetic and I do not metabolize food well. The glycogen does not get to my muscles and I have no fuel for rides. I was bonking on the last few rides. Bonk is when you run out of fuel. OTS and diabetes makes for a bad combination. Rest is all I can do, 3 to 5 days is what the information sheet seems to think. I'm on my forth day. I can hardly stand it. I want to ride. Still I have to shorten my rides to 25 or 30 miles. Use an easy gear all the time. Keep the heart rate on the low side. Start to build up to the miles again. I guess it's just a new goal. Over come this problem. Well the work out I can deal with. The diabetes there is a medical protocol that I have to get more meds for. Getting older I have no choice in. I'll go out today in the cold wet wind again. This time I'll go out easy. Work at rebuilding. Funny, I worked so hard this Winter. Then my diabetes kicked me because I did not have the right amount of a drug. My fault for not having a local Dr. to get me the drug I need and the amount I need more than that. I didn't see it coming. Well here it is!
So I am going to go out for a short ride today. 25 to 30 miles in a easy gear. Be careful of the fuel and glyogen.

Out the Door with a Push

There are few days like Tuesday. Few ride days that the power of no, over came the need of yes. It was very cold again. 35 degrees and would reach 40 by Noon. It was so hard to get the gear on and go out. Face another cold ride. The bone chilling wind that the bike would make. The chill I was still over coming from last Friday's "Snow" ride. This is my second ride since Friday and I'm still feeling the cold bite at me. So the power to go, took all the power I could find. 2 hours of just pacing the floor making excuses. Doing what I could to put the ride off for a little bit longer. Put off the chill. It was just after noon. With all the winter gear I could put on. Out I went. Do another 45 miler. Freezing in the shade and tree covered areas. Warming in the sun and on the climbs. Artic chill again on the descents to the start of the next climb. By 3 PM it might reach 44 degrees.
All my friends (roads), Bayview, Andreason, Lone Lake Hill, Saratoga Hills, Langley Town, Maxwellton Hills, French Road, Bailey Rollers, Cultus Bay, Jewelett Hill, Glendale Hill, Hoilst Hill, Deer Lake Rollers, Heggenes Hill, back to Cultus Bay on the way to Langley Road, through Langley Town to Bayview Hill, and home. As it turned out all I could do was 40 miles. I was bonking at about mile 25. My sports replacement drink was holding me up and that was gone by mile 32. Time to stop in Langley to put down the 2 gels I had for emergence's. I still had 7 miles or so to get home. My brain was at about 3/4 speed. Just holding myself together. Home would come soon. I have done Bayview Hill up, fast decent and the rest to home so many times. I was working on memory. Not bad, but still not at 100%. The gels were working and I was feeling a bit better. The sun was out for the last bit of the ride. The warmth against the black winter tights was warming me up. The last bit was more out in the open. Not so many trees. It added a few degrees of warmth to the body. A little less ice to the bone. Well it feels that way. La Nina has her grips on our area. A weather pattern that keeps things in the Pacific NW cooler. This La Nina is the worst, ever. So I got home. Half numb, working at about half speed. Just standing around. Cold and a bit wet from sweat on the inside. I may have over dressed for the up hills. Though not for the down hills. What do you do? Chicken soup and a peanuntbutter sandwich. Eat the rest of the left over pizza to. It was good to be home. A 1 hour hot bath to. Get the bones warm. Get ready for the next ride on Thursday. Hope for a little warmer weather.