California - Off Day on a Day Off

I woke up today bleary eyed, fatigued, and a bit sore everywhere.

In other words, things felt normal.

The weather, for the first time this trip, looked less than spectacular. I thought hard about not riding, but I thought about what a zero hour day looks like. Right now it looks fine. In three months, when I look back at my training, I think, "What a waste."

I bought myself some time first. I took some time to snap some pictures of my Action Wipes order, which came in a day or two ago. I broke out the Sports Gel, rubbed it on my sore muscles, and sat there smelling like a recently-rubbed-down racing cyclist.

(Review coming soon, and, yes, I paid for the order.)

I motivated after reading a bike related email from SOC. I dressed warmly (it's positively chilly at 50-odd degrees with no sun), loaded up a little lighter than normal, and set off. I thought at worst I'd do an hour, at best about two.

My body rebelled completely. It pedaled like it really didn't mean it. Slow and slower. I rolled big gears up hills, because if I used big gears at 40 rpm, I'd go faster than if I used little gears at 40 rpm.

And going 4 mph up slight grades seemed ridiculous, even to my tired body.

19 minutes into the ride, a little warm (big ringing some of the hills around here will do that to you), I felt a rain drop. When I stopped at a light and looked at the pavement, I saw little speckles that weren't there a few days ago.

Rain drop footprints.

I begrudgingly rolled up the next hill, big ring, low rpm, and at the intersection at the top I made a flash decision.

I got into the left lane, made a legal U-turn (that's what GPS nav systems call it, a "legal U-turn"), and headed back.

41 minutes after I set out, I was off the bike.

I ate, again. Did some laundry. Updated some BikeReg entries. Tthe popular request right now - "Can you change my team? I forgot to update my profile before I registered for the races". When registration closes for each week's race the popular request is, "I was almost done with checkout when the time expired. Can you put me in for Sunday?"

And, can't forget the Monday requests after a race. "Hi, I was really sick Sunday, I couldn't race, can I get a refund?"

Okay, I usually get them Sunday afternoon, but you get the point.

Cynicism aside, the requests now are fine. They're usually from well organized people who made an honest mistake.

Then I ate some more.

I did commit to the Red Trolley Crit, and by definition, "commit" means "I paid for it". It's about as Bethel-like as it could be - 0.6 mile course, about a 100 meter hill, finish just after the top. I hope it works out.

But, right now, I have a slight tickle in my throat. I'm still weary down to my bones. And it's raining for real.