Activity: road cycling
Location: Glen Echo, MD > Seneca, MD
Distance: 46.5 miles
Duration: 2:45
Weather: sunny, 54 degrees
Avg HR: 142 (est.)
Type: aerobic

My first Potomac Pedalers ride since the accident. Felt good, but I didn’t go the whole way to Poolesville because I didn’t want to go too far over 44 miles. I can tell that I’ve lost a little on the hills, and I cramped hard at mile 33 (some water and a quick massage fixed things). But it was a good ride, all told. The shoulder held up fine – it was the least of my worries, amazingly enough. The only thing is that I had to watch that my technique didn’t get too funky. I think I’m involuntarily compensating for the shoulder, even though the shoulder is fine. When I felt my back get out-of-whack, I’d slow down, concentrate on a good, even pedal stroke and handlebar pull. So my average speed for the ride was 16.6 mph, which isn’t too bad – though it’s well behind what I was doing back in August.

I had some gripes about rider behavior on this ride. Basically, some of the faster, hotshot riders kept ignoring the “car back” calls that signal “ride single file, a car wants to pass.” It didn’t matter how loudly you yelled “car back,” these riders just wouldn’t listen. So those of use who are good do-bees get pissed, the drivers of the cars got pissed, and the folks who just had to carry on their lief-altering conversation or their out-of-the-saddle climbing record gave cyclists a very bad name. If only these folks would keep in mind that folks in MoCo vote, and their votes carry a lot of weight when it comes to funding for road improvements and mass-transit projects.