Dec 1

Today was the first official day of training for me and TheWidowmaker (TW). He ran the Seattle Marathon last weekend and needed a week off of our usual lunchtime rides to recoup.
But we went out for a cold 31 mile ride today. Road conditions were a bit of a crapshoot, it was freezing overnight, so we had to wait for it to warm up a little, but heavy snow was predicted for the day so we had to be back before that started. It worked out perfectly. My toes were quite coldfor the first 10 miles or so but they numbed eventually and the remainder of the ride wasn't too bad. sidenote, i gotta get some booties.

This was a vigourous ride though, i can't ever recall being this tired and achy after a ride. We rode from my place up to Forest Park and Muk Blvd to Glenwood. Ride up Glenwood and Madison to Beverly Blvd, that section was just to log some good hills. From there we rode back to N Evt and then took the Lowell Larimer Route out to Springetti and into Snohomish. We came back across Homeacres Rd and Ebey Island. 31 Miles total in 2hrs, 2mins.

TW is fast on the flats. And he's just gonna get faster. I still spin at a higher cadence so I think I can catch him when I need to, and I'm leading him on the climbs. But I don't think I'm gonna be able to rely on any advantages I have for long. We'll be very strong in STP next year, but I'm already worried about the TdM.

The kicker though, is that we saw another cyclist about a half mile ahead of us as we rounded the last corner before the bridge into Ebey. I wanted catch up but we never did. We were pounding out a good pace and were gaining but never caught up. We just totally ran out of steam by the time we hit the Hwy 2 trussel. I did catch a better glimpse the rider as she rode under us back the other way under the bridge. She was riding a hardtail with shocks. Embarassing. for us.
Apart from that last blow to my ego, the ride was spendid, looking forward to some warmer climes and steeper climbs next week.