Week #12: Another "We go faster when Ashby isn't here" week

So once again, we had a fast ride--averaging 32.7km/hr for 71kms. And once again, Ashby wasn't riding...does anyone else notice a trend here, or is it just me? ...strange ;)

I rode a 70km loop with Shawn on Sunday, and came out of that ride pretty fried. My legs were hurting more than they have all year...so I wasn't sure how well I'd feel on Monday night. However, despite not feeling great, I was apparently riding well, as I ended up with 3 blue signs. Yves narrowly held off Fraser for the 4th (although Fraser's pulled muscles likely didn't help--and he was closing the gap fast, so it was close!) Our ride started off fairly slow and relaxed, with a decent sized group. After 20 minutes or so, the paced picked up a bit, and we were down to 6 riders (myself, Steve, Yves, Fraser, Chris, Fernando.) Our loop took us on some roads we don't ride often (including Lake Eloida Rd), which is always kind of nice! Despite the massive thunderstorm at 4pm, the weather was beautiful by ride time, and the (almost) longest day of the year meant we had plenty of time to get in a fairly long ride.

At the pub, Carolin called Matt and managed to talk him into making the trip down for a beer and to share in our always entertaining conversation. He promised (again) that he would ride next Monday... so we'll see. Pub talk centered once again on velodrome info (Dave had some more paperwork, including some design plans) as well as a discussion of the 'sordid' details of life in Carolin and Yves' office. Hopefully that conversation helped to get everyone on the same page when it comes to the differences between "fun" and "too much fun."

I got in a (very) slow, short recovery ride tonight after work and will be ready to rock tomorrow, which is a special event--it's Dave's birthday. After the ride we're all heading to O'Reilly's for some frosty beverages. Be there if at all possible! Even if you can't make the ride, perhaps you can join us at the pub!