B-almy in B-more

I woke up this morning thinking I'd need to make an 8:30 am conference call for work. Turns out it's at 8:30 PM (BIG difference), so instead of getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to make the 7am ride in DC (which I had briefly considered, sorry Beth!), I ended up cleaning the house top to bottom waiting for the weather to warm up. Just as I was about to leave my uber-clean house to hit the road, a problem with a production push at work delayed my departure until I was able to fix and retest the problem. Problem solved, I finally ducked out at 2pm for my two and a half hour ride. Yikes!

Long rides are not yet my friends. I'm still building up my base, so around the 2-hour mark my legs start complaining and my knee starts aching (right knee only, what's up with that?), and then I start whining. If I'm riding alone (like I was today), without my Shuffle (lost it somewhere), this whining is mostly internal. MOSTLY. Sometimes I mutter to myself. Well, actually I do it quite often. And if you happen to be riding with me, you'll hear it. Oh yes, you will. It's when I STOP whining you know there's trouble... The death march has begun. Fortunately there was no death march today, but there was a fair bit of whining. My knee was yelling at me and my legs were tired, but the weather was almost verging on terrific -- 45 degrees and sunny! I got away with a base layer, long sleeve and a thermal vest. Until the weather tops 70 degrees, these are my favorite kind of rides.

I remember way back when, when I started riding and 50 degrees seemed so cold! At least now I don't whine (about the weather, at least), until it goes below 30. It makes a big difference when you have all the right gear and can be appropriately dressed. Which is why I am in LOVE with my Verge thermal vest. This is the first year I've had one and it's perfect for anywhere from freezing (32, ya moreons) up to about 50. Compared to a thermal jacket, which is good below freezing, but you can only wear it up to about 35 before you end up positively roasting. A cooked cyclist is never a good thing, in my opinion. Now I need to throw it in the wash so I can wear it for tomorrow's team ride in hilly, hilly Frederick. Oy... Please don't drop me girls. I'll still be using my recent blood donation as an excuse, if you do!