We were in the teens and cloudy. We have a storm off the coast.. but we are not expected to get much if anything out of it.
We had a gorgeous day yesterday.. the sun is getting nice and strong. We didn't do much yesterday. I made up a strap for the cover on my SnowDog. The cover kept blowing off. [it at one strap through the middle so it didn't blow away] I did some looking and figuring for handlebar options. We did stop by to see friends.. he had been writing me about bikes.
We did get a couple of BKool rides in. I started with a 12+ mile downhill.. they are harder than they sound. This one had a great video.. good scenery and well shot.. but it was scary as #$@% It was on a fairly narrow road.. and had some really hard turns.. the guy filming it.. was cranking fairly well.. and was leaning hard in the turns. Of course on the Bkool we can travel faster then the one filming.. so the video.. is runner faster than it was shot. The start of it made me a little queazy.
I came upstair.. and sat for a bit.. looking at numbers… and debating what next [if anything] I decided to re-challenge my friend Bill on a race where we had been retaking 2nd place from each other [vs first.. there was someone else out there ahead of us a bit] I had given up the challenge for a while.. It was really hurting.. and I didn't think I had it in me to go for it.
Well I wasn't sure.. but I felt compelled to try. Bill will often draft my ghost and the the last Mile or so.. go for it. I try to just time trial it when I can. I set Bill and myself up as ghost.. so I could use them to help with my pace.. or to know how I am doing. For the heck of it, I put the guy [Steve] that was ahead of us.
I tried to pace myself at the start.. and still went out too hard. I spent several minutes trying to get my pulse and breathing back under control.. while still trying to stay ahead of the ghosts. This was very hard.. and quite painful to do. I did finally recover.. and was able to slowing increase my lead over Bill. I knew I needed a decent cushion for he had a real strong finish. At one pushed the pulse more and more.. one's awareness.. narrows pretty dramatically. My attention would end up somewhere else… and then I would glance at my lead over second.. then I realized.. it's not Bill… but Steve!! I was 20 or so seconds ahead of Steve. I still had a bit to go for the finish.. and Steve had also finished hard.. so I really had to dig deep… but I held them off. Bill and I had been decreasing our times, like 2 seconds at a time. This time I took 58 seconds off my time.
I think if I had taken off a little easier.. I could have been stronger in other places.. and maybe have done it faster.. although I am not sure. Right now I am the fastest on this course.. so… I will end up looking at others. It would mentally be quite tough.. to try and beat my own time. [right now anyways]
There is another track event.. where I have performed pretty well.. there are still quite a few ahead of me… as well as a million or so other rides [no exaggeration]
We did go to over to Dave and Angela's for dinner last night.