If I had a Hammer

(I didn't make the climb.)

This last Saturday I went on what was supposed to be a quick ride before I drove up to be with my family for Christmas. The quick ride turned into a 4 hour tour through Chiquita, Tijeras Creek, Coto and Riley.

I was hoping that the bike would be in perfect shape since I had just gotten it back from the shop. Wrong. The teeth on my middle ring are very worn down and I was unable to put any pressure on the cranks when I was in my middle ring.

Considering that the middle ring is my favorite, this made the day kind of frustrating. I tried to substitute by spending time in the big ring and the small ring and avoiding the middle entirely. It was hard to find a good balance in some sections of the ride, but it worked out.

The other note for this ride was the fact that I was sick. I thought I was healing well and that I was maybe a day away from being ok, but again I was wrong. I think the ride in the cold (it was 39 degress when we started the ride) actually made things worse.

I've been fighting a chest cold (bad cough and sore throat) ever since the ride and am only now feeling better. I've been coughing up a lot of stuff and am starting to feel stronger again. I can't believe the cold lasted almost two weeks. Just stupid.

It was good to ride 35 miles before going on vacation, but I can't help but feel like I've been off the bike too much in the past few weeks. December has been a very slow month for riding.

I'm looking forward though to finish the year with the Project Rwanda ride. I'm not going to under estimate it this year. I'm going to pace myself and eat and drink a lot so I can finish strong.


(Michael Jordan and I both use our tongues to raise our game.)

Album from the day:

Chiquita