Florida: Day Five (final)

Today is sort of like the Paris stage of the Tour. Easy riding, some crumbs for those who weren't going for points (Gene slowed to let me "take" a sprint), and talking about the riding over the past week. We went out easy, less than two hours, to let the legs do some light work.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty bad, but I seem to have recovered for today. I could actually pull a bit and felt pretty frisky at the end of the ride. I can tell I'm frisky when I chase down cars and sit right off their bumper. The sun was making its presence known so that was good too.

I'm stuck now with a bunch of SlimFast, RockStar, instant oatmeal, and some misc things. I'll pack all that stuff up and fly it back home.

I'm considering the training trip a success. About 17 hours of riding in 6 days, including the two flying days. The meat of the trip were the 4 middle days where we did over 14 hours. A little lower than one year where we did about 4 hours a day but the secondary goals were well met. No sore tendons, no severe muscle soreness, no saddle issues, and, for me, a LOT more pulling at the front. Instead of constantly sitting at the back, I was able to do a lot more work. I felt good enough today that I could probably go out for 3 or 4 hours without too much trouble.

Now to pack up the bike and my gear (the room is a wreck). I have the 2006 Tour in the background and it keeps reminding me how terrible Rasmussen descends. Someone should buy him some driving lessons.

Then it's off to the airport and a short flight up to the cold Northeast. I checked the weather - at home it's supposed to be a high of 28 and a low of 16 tomorrow. Nothing like a 50 degree drop in temperatures to shock the system.