Toe covers, a beanie and full fingered gloves just about sums up yesterday's ride. It was my first time using all three of my new Pearl Izumi items and I was pretty excited to hit the streets in my new gear. The excitement wore off about 1/4 mile in when I realized that it was f'ing cold.
The thought of my warm cozy bed was dancing in my mind like sugar plum ferries, but I continued on toward downtown. I had to get a decent ride in so I figured I better get some miles downtown because I was getting a little bored with the normal ride around town. Passing the Pochontas statue and gets a little old ... . As I cruised down Jefferson toward Belle Isle around 9 a.m. my fingers started to turn into little icicles but the rest of my body was warm. The sun started to peek out and then stayed out the rest of the ride which really came in handy as I think it thawed out my fingers! I hit a few laps around the Isle which was semi quiet for a beautiful morning.
As I was riding I of course was planning my lunch menu for the day. Because it was cold I needed some warm comfort food. My selections were minimal at home but I did remember that I had some potato pierogi in freezer. Aha..! So I spent the next hour thinking about how to prepare them, what to serve with them (peas and carrot, celery and pear juice) and how good they would be. As I hit the 2 hour mark of my ride I played a little cat and mouse with an older guy cycling. As he caught back up to me it was clear that he was from Europe..he asked about the mileage around the isle, so I filled him in on that and then he told me that cycling is good for his injured knee..ummm, ok cool. But where are you from?? Italy I first thought but I was wrong. "Poland" he says as I fire back with "I was just thinking about the pierogi I am having for lunch!!" He got a good laugh even though he most likely only understood the word pierogi. He decided to turn it on, cycle away and I never saw him again. It was entertaining for a few minutes at least.
Also while on one of my laps there were two dudes running, most likely training for the Freep. One had a zipped up wind jacket but as I rode past him I got a tiny peek at the shirt he had on underneath. Black with a red logo..hmm..could it be? I tried to stalk them a little more but no dice. As I cruised downtown more toward the river walk and saw the guys again. This time his jacket was around his waist revealing his shirt. Sure enough he was rocking the 2011 Rock CF Rivers black with red half shirt! When I saw this I smiled like a fool...the could have thought that something was wrong with me because I was just looking at them and smiling.. but it made my day!
Hoping to get 56 miles in, I finished up with 47 instead. I didn't eat a big enough breakfast and I couldn't get my energy to come back that last hour, even with some Hammer Gel..plus I was chilly and my legs were a little beat from Saturday's 10 miler. I didn't feel bad calling it a day because it was a great ride and it proved that I am tough enough to ride in the semi cold weather!
Rest and yin yoga today!
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