It's getting a bit temeperate

Well, let's see, it's over 100 now every day. In fact, last night at 945pm it was 92 degrees. but that's not the real issue.

I went riding with a friend for about 20 miles early Sunday morning. It was muggy and about 85 by 830am. But we had a plan, and were enjoying a great ride even though Sunday traffic was heavier than we thought it would be. My pal the Mster and I had a few sprints, too. I won all three, but he's learning quick. Of course, me giving pointers doesn't help my cause too much.

You see, Mster (pronounced em-ster) was the one to pick out what we were sprinting for the first time, and when we could go. Add to this he has a devastating jump, and it's getting tougher and tougher to come around him. when he jumps, he has a gap instantly of at least two bike lengths. It's great practice for me, but man, it's tough. especially when he picks an uphill sprint.

the second sprint I picked, and I set us off. Again I was gapped, but my higher top speed served me well. As we were riding towards his house, we were winding up for the final sprint. This time, we treated it as a race, so we could jump whenever we wanted. I got a little lucky when I went to my drops from my hoods, as Mster thought I was going to open up right then, and he jumped to try and take me by surprise. It almost worked. Had he held off another 50 meters it would have been very different. As it was, I was able to come around him in the last 75 meters or so, bu thtis time he used all the tips I gave him, and he really improved. A few more weeks of this and I'm really going to have a fight on my hands in the sprints.

In between all this fun a group caught up to us and we jumped in. We were rolling along at about 23mph when I went to the front, and the guy next to me started picking up the pace. not sure if he was trying to initiate me, but I wasn't in the mood for it, so I pushed the pedals a bit harder. Pretty soon we were hitting about 28 up the hill we were on, and when we reached a red light, he was like "that was some good fun". Yes it was.

Rolling back even further, I went for a ride Saturday evening after falling asleep during a Yankees game. Again I did Jester, but descended a different way. about 15 miles into my ride my rear tire blew, most likely from the tube being old. I texted my wife and started walking, and a block later she was honking her horn at me. Turns out she was heading home and hadn't checked her message yet, and through pure luck I had a ride when I needed it. Not a bad way to end a ride.