got in...

a couple of rides over this weekend.

friday...i had a good thirty-seven miler around town. up through parma via west fifty-fourth street, and up behind padua high school. good hill. took some back roads to get to sprague rd. east on sprague. as i came down sprague to broadview a damn girl needed to pass me so bad to get to the red light before me. so she passes me like a monkey, and then can't get around the left hand turn lane that she comes to a complete stop. screws me up since in still in the big ring that my chain pops off. bitch. re-group. back on the road and take the long descent to brecksville rd north to brookside. another down hill into the valley. sit back and relax. so i did. for part of it anyway. i'm coming down the hill, doing the speed limit, not hugging the curb. some freaking jack ass pulls out in front of me. then moves over into the other lane, and comes to a complete stop. i brake. and yell "what the f*&! are you doing?" he takes off. so do i. i want to catch em. why? i have no idea. i felt like a dog chasing a car...what am i going to do if i catch em? he blew through some stop signs, and i couldn't catch em.

canal to tinker creek, up to gorge parkway. another good climb. to overlook lane down to dunham to another good climb and finally back to canal. made my way home, and then road down to the zoo, and back and around back home. great time.

i'm trying new psychological mind tricks to get up hills, and they seem to be working, but the jury is still out.

this ride was in preparation for sunday...

the annual cleveland touring club's sunday in june.

we got there early, because i'm a cloths whore. i wanted a shirt, and i didn't pre-register, so i wanted to get there early so i could get one soon.


early was the start, and cold was the descent at the start. we had a really good ride. this is the map of the route that we took. we made good time. three rest stops. it was after the third one that i got pissed. two jerks at the last rest stop just stood in front of the food. not getting out of the way for others. i saw their water bottles and all questions were answered. we get back out on the road, and some jerk comes flying by like his ass was on fire, and to hell with everybody else. we get out on the road and make the split to finish the sixty two. both of these parties were near us. we had about fifteen miles to go. i did not want to be near any of these people. so as we make the split, there was some confusion among the food jerks. i go. randy follows. pass a horse and buggy, that some other rider didn't know what to do. pass him. i notice the other jerk (who will get another name soon) up ahead. lets go. pass him. and i started passing others. just because. i just didn't want to deal with all these people. i look back. i see randy. good. and then behind randy that jerk is wheel sucking on randy. i keep a steady pace to see if he'll take a turn. nope. freaking wheel sucker. i turn it up a little. loose him. randy comes up front and drives. wheel sucker is back. i pushed like a muther. he would not let go. we put some space between him, and left him in no man's land. we came to the end, where there was a split. either up a sharp hill, with no traffic, or up another hill with traffic. i knew where randy was going. up the sharp hill. i was doing good. randy pulled away like he always does going up hill. almost at the top, and i'm just enjoying my groove. next thing i know wheel sucker is next to me. not happening. i take off again. i'm not letting him finish before me. and he doesn't. great meal at the end.

props to randy for riding, and even more for keeping my pace at the end. he's hurting. thanks.

shalom...