Ride, Baby, Ride

Today was absolutely gorgeous, sunny, 70, and not a cloud in the sky. How could one sit inside? Chip bought a new road bike on Friday and had to sit and watch it rain for two days before he could get the thing out on the open road. Today was the perfect day to break it in.

Chip and I woke up early and headed out for a long, long bike ride. Well, long for me and the longest ride ever for Chip! We hit the Mt. Vernon trail and headed towards Mt. Vernon itself...15 miles away. Round trip, the ride was 30.5 miles. Now, if you've never gone ALL THE WAY down the trail, it gets quite hilly, and the last 1.25 miles is all up hill. It's brutal. brutal...

Chip looked strong and let the way most of the way out--he's a natural on the bike. I was poking along behind, trying hard not to wipe out on all the wet leaves on the trail. And blowing my nose every 2 minutes. I have this sinus thing and the goo just runs like a faucet out of my nose. Eww. This makes it hard to breathe too. But, I made it up that last hill, barely. We rested for a bit, then turned around and I led the whole way home. We kept a good pace on the way back as I dug deep for all my energy reserves. Crossfit is great for its super short explosive workouts, but it has been a solid month since my last significant endurance event and I will pay for it tomorrow!

We ended the ride with coffee over at pentagon row, sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and each other. This was Chip's first ride ever on a road bike and he "f'ing loves this." "I thought about this day for almost a year...it was awesome!". Thank goodness--a Specialized carbon road bike and accessories is not cheap! :)