The Return of Country Riding and the Red Allez

Comfort in the Country Here in good ole' Houston, the weather has been nothing short of fabulous. Highs in the mid 70's, lows in mid 60's, sunny....you can't beat it right now. So feeling that long distance riding itch, on Friday I headed to the country for an easy 50 miler. It had been a few months since I had ridden these roads, and I missed that feeling of being on your bike for hours on end and thinking about nothing and everything. It was good to be back on my bike. For the first hour of my ride, I listened to my ipod (bad me!) and just focused on riding again. It was windy and there was plenty of headwind, but I simply took things easy. How fast I was going I have NO clue, since my damn cateye is broken (damn I really hate this thing) and I need to take it in to get another one or have one of the Sugar Cycles guys look at it. In some ways though, it was nice not being a slave to speed and cadence. I mean, I'm not training for anything in particular. And I was riding to clear my head and be in my thoughts. After an hour I ditched the music and took in the scenery. I saw the usual number of roadkill and familiar landmarks. Then I thought about all the times I had trained for last years ironman using this country route. This ride is not just familiar to me, but it's also personal. I've prayed on this route, I've cursed this route, I've almost gotten killed on this route. Heck, most all of my long rides have been on this country route. I was on my bike for three hours. Plenty of time to obsess in your thoughts. I was sore, tired and plain hungry when I finished. But these were also familiar feelings. And in a strange sort of way, I took comfort in these pangs.

Again, I'm really glad I'm back on my bike.

I'm also happy to announce the return of Red Allez. Red Allez Alas Actually, not my fellow anti blogger. But Rob's new bike, the Red Allez. He needed one for many reasons. 1) He's with me and to be with me, you need to have a bike. 2) Riding is cool and fun and better than going to the malls and shopping 3) Oh, and I signed him up for his first sprint triathlon in May Saturday we took his shiny new bike out for a spin. I'm not ready to take him to the country in traffic until he feels comfortable. He did fine, considering he hasn't ridden a bike save for spin class at the gym.

I think Rob is such a hottie.

Great weather, a return to riding and a new biking buddy.

Life is good. Cheers and happy training! "Nothing is worth more than this day" Goethe