Cold, cold ride!

It was my own fault. I wore what I thought was plenty of clothing -- base layer, jersey, vest, arm warmers, and winter bibs. All of those items were perfect. However, before we left I was questioning whether I should wear warmer gloves and knee warmers. I decided against both -- big mistake! The ride never got much above 40 degrees. Felt slight rain with about 8 miles left, but luckily it passed. Chris and Sarah were the brave souls today. Sarah decided not to do the race today (which is why Eddie did not ride), so she made it out. We had a great time, but it was definitely cold! It is now 5PM and I am still trying to warm up. Going out for pizza after the ride was worth it, though! All I could think about during the ride was, "only 25 more miles until food... only 22.5 more miles until food..." HAHA

Should we ride?

Everyone kept talking about the rain yesterday, so I was pretty confident that we wouldn't ride. The main players had already said that they weren't riding. However, I decided to go to the shop to clean up from the crazy last few days.

I settled into my chair in the office to check emails and start working. At 10, I heard the door chime (the door was open). Greg was there with Shawn ready to ride... I decided that I should be riding my own shop ride, so I got dressed and headed out. We did 30 miles at a steady pace -- only a few drops. I am so glad that I got out!

Beautiful day, chilly ride!

Technically, it was a perfectly gorgeous day -- for FEBRUARY! However, it was deceiving. John (not pictured -- rode to shop and home), Hardy, Chris, and I were the brave riders today. As we were about to leave, Chris was removing his arm warmers and gloves -- it was actually hot in the parking lot. We discussed it for a second, and I knew that I had been fooled too many times, so I decided to keep my warm weather gear on. For the first time ever, I actually made a smart decision! As soon as we headed down Cole CT, we could feel the cool air in the shade, as well as the wind. That was just the beginning. Except for the very last portion of the ride, it was incredibly cold, and the wind was ferocious at times. As I rode beside Chris, I mentioned to him that his hands were purple! However, he is incredibly resilient -- he toughed it out for the whole ride.

We rode quite hard today. We charged up most of the hills, and by the end of the ride I could feel the effects. Due to squats a few days ago, and running last night, my legs were basically spent by the end. A few miles from the shop, my quads cramped up -- I was glad we were almost back! Overall it was a great ride! The only thing which would have made it better would have been going to Frontera afterward. However, everyone had obligations. I want to thank Hardy and John for making it out today!

Debut of the RC8!

Today's ride was great! It was my first time on a bike in a month, and the first time I have ridden my RC8. It was incredible! At first I thought there was no way I could get used to the paddle shifters of the SRAM Red group, but it only took a few minutes. I loved it! Additionally, I had forgotten about the Nokon cables -- that is a good thing. If I don't think about it, then that means they were doing their job. They were flawless! This bike is the best I have ridden/owned to date! I can't wait until the next ride.

I was just pacing myself since I haven't ridden in so long and didn't want to bonk. Chris was riding great. Eddie had done a long ride with his team the day before, so he was nice enough to hang back when I was lagging. Finally, we lost Chris so we just rode back to the shop.

When Chris showed up, we took the obligatory shop ride photo, but then he decided we needed to spice it up somehow. Anyone who knows me knows that I am normally very reserved in this regard. He wouldn't relent, so I finally broke down and decided to do the Charlie's Angels shot -- it was actually pretty funny! I figure, what the heck? I can become more spontaneous and goofy, right?

Afterward, we went to Frontera for the usual post-ride meal.