i needed to hit it again. Worry over the potential loss due to the potential move, and desperation to get some kind of semblance of conditioning for the upcoming Crazy 88. I commuted to work twice this week, and spent an hour on the trainer, and rode G to the park like 3 times which i don’t even count in my riding log. twas an above-average week. Its all about power and spin right now, I’m warming up to the idea of wanting to do the whole race. It is going to be a sufferfest, but if I don’t WANT to finish there is no chance in hell i will. So i’m leaving myself open to the warming to the wanting it.

And decided to add in the climb up Las Sendas outbound and on the return. It would add 15-20 minutes and 2 decent hills. Took 4:15 total for 70 miles, with about 30 minutes idle time. I was going to meet up with singlespeedsycip (Mark) and some of his crew at the Dash In for the 42 miler. I hung out for about 10 minutes waiting at 5:45am, then headed up the rode figuring they’d run me down as a group working together in the flats. And they did, blew right by me and up the hill. Mark fortunately kept looping back for his buddy Simon, who was just a tad slower than me, and holy crap he made it look effortless. Markwas nursing rickety knees the first few times I rode with him, and its great to see him kicking ass now that he feels good. The company was nice too, and worth the time.

I got my first flat in about a year and a half just as we left from the top. The fix was uneventful but i knew right away it’d be 20 miles til i saw anyone again. It was cool. i got to dig deep, and the legs were not hurting anywhere nearly as badly as last week. My time wasn’t much better, which wasn’t really surprising, but i did feel stronger and mentally tougher the whole ride, even though everything is achey this afternoon. There were a couple good stretches of climbing where Mark pushed my pace. It might have been 5 minutes all-told, but it will pay off later. Eat the elephant one step at a time.

home, banana pancakes again, shopping again, cooking again – ribs and grilled veggies. i think i’ve finally mastered how to cook ribs – long and slow and low. Beckie and I ate an entire slab, and this gluttony can only partially be blamed on the ride; the rest was all my fabulous cooking. G has started to make a chomping noise for kicks when she eats. We chomped loudly on ribs. i pork products.