Jen rode her road bike????

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday and Jen rode her road bike! Shocking I know. I had planned to avoid trails today because of the rain we've had all week. When the thunderstorms rolled through around 2a and again at 4a, I cut off the alarm and postponed all riding for a later start time. I had originally planned to ride from 9a - noon, but decided to sleep a bit longer, take care of a few tasks around home then go ride. The advantage of getting stuff done at home was that I didn't have to rush or feel rushed to get back here.

I did leave home around 11:15a and managed to get in 40 miles. It took me 2:57:36 which for the route that I rode was 3 minutes faster than my previous journey on this route, of course that day, I got lost; so there was probably no grand improvement. The most important point is is that I rode 40 miles on a whim and one day after a total-body workout at the gym. Ow my legs! I rode from home down to Mill Mtn for the climb. I threw my chain off about halfway up (the first of three times today). Descending on the parkway was fun today - my max speed according to my GPS was 38.8mph!!!!!!!! WHAT? Anyway, MM and the parkway are a bit treacherous in places where the rain has washed alot of gravel and other debris onto the road.
I had any number of places where I could have gotten off of the parkway and headed home, but for some reason I decided to ride on to Mountain Pass Road. OUCH. It seems like the section between the Roanoke River Bridge and Rt 460 is extremely long. Then of course Mountain Pass Road sucks the life out of you. I wound up walking up the steep, switchback section. I had no legs left. Mountain Pass is a nice road, just rural enough to have good scenery, but also rural enough to have the token rednecks.

Arrived back at Rt 11 and pedalled on. I made great progress on 11 until I got near Hollins U then the headwind which wasn't bad got worse. I felt like it was pushing me backwards. I was getting very frustrated and tired trying to fight it, but soon would find myself at 39 miles right near my house. I ended up riding around the neighborhood streets in order to get the last mile.

I enjoyed my ride tremendously. I've had a very productive and fun weekend. We'll see what the week has in store for me: 4 more days at the outpatient place, gym on Monday and Wednesday, Chicky Ride Tuesday, and I may sneak in a night ride Friday night on Mill Mtn. HMMMMM - wish I could make it to the Cove Thursday night, but that's likely not going to happen. May try to get some people together for a Sunday group ride. =) Well see, meanwhile it's time to rest. Now where did I put that ibuprofen?