Fast and Hot

I was again up late last night, a result perhaps of the late afternoon coffee I made when it started raining. Cold weather and rain always make me want a cup of coffee. Funny how the mind works, or more specifically the neurobiology of the brain, dopamine, etc., etc. So anyway, the bottom line is that I didn't get anything productive done but still had a damned hard time rolling out of bed in time to make the 6:15 ride. With my legs feeling rather heavy, we rolled out on time, and after picking up Tim and a few others, some of whom were on TT bikes, the pace just started going up and up and up. We spent a lot of time above 26 mph all the way out to the turnaround, and by then sweat was starting to drip from my helmet. I guess it was already around 80F by then, and the only word to describe the humidity is "thick." There was a brief reprieve as we started back, but then Tim started getting impatient and rolled through and before I knew it the pace was just about as fast as it had been on the way out. By the time we were halfway back I was taking short pulls and struggling a bit to hold the speed, especially since the number of riders in the rotation kept getting smaller and smaller. Finally in the last few miles before the playground I thought I'd better drop back for some extended recovery time. So clearly I'm not quite ready for prime time yet. No surprise there.....