Saturday at the Rail Trail

Friday at lunch I did an easy 5 miler at lunch… I had no idea at the time what else I would heap on top of that over the weekend.

I had a ride scheduled with Chris on Saturday… bu1 #1 I had a new bike and wanted to ride it. #2 I wanted to work out any technical problems with riding a new bike with new pedals and shoes and saddle…

So I rode 18 or so Friday evening… and man did I ever suck… I thought I must be over trained… undernourished… vitamin deficient… my new bike was awful…. These thoughts went on for 15 miles…. Until I finally decided to check my brakes… yeppers… the brake pads were rubbing… I guess I had misaligned when I put the back wheel on my bike… well… that repaired and I felt like a new man…

Saturday was a rare near perfect day for training. Overcast with a high of like 84F… We rode 2 loops of the local rails to trails, basically 60 miles. For the first loop his GF’s son Aaron came along… good kid… 18 years old… never complained… or fell off… or pulled =;-)

It rained for much of the second loop… we did not really care. Low traffic on the trail meant that we could softpedal side by side and chat like the old friends that we are.

After we finished I packed up the bike and went for a run. Since we rode pretty easy I decided to run 6. Since it was relatively cool… and overcast I took no water… only one gel. Two miles in I started to feel a little bonky… so I ate the gel I brought… then I got thirsty… by the time I hit the turnaround I was completely parched. Then it started raining… cue “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

I run for a while with my mouth open and facing the sky… I catch a bit of moisture but not enough to quench anything…. I probably look like a laboring… lumbering… overgrown baby bird…

Then I had this idea… I’d just run with my hands cupped in front of me… at this point it was pouring… I was making good progress in the water collection area… then I saw a bike approaching… and knowing what kind of idiot I looked like I dropped my hands to my sides and lost my precious drops of water…

After all of these shenanigans I decided to just HTFU and finish my run… I had a couple of bottles in the car… chilling in my cooler. I finished both of them off before I got in my car to drive home.