Biked with the Gliders this morning. It's kind of weird that at 41 I was the youngest person there. Like I mentioned before it is odd riding in a group. I kind of cruise behind somebody most of the way and then 3 or 4 times it's my turn to lead and I'm pedaling my ass off for 5 minutes.

I'm debating going on one of their longer weekend rides (50 miles). I'm still coming to terms with the concept of devoting that much time to road cycling.

Riding all over town Tuesday night was epic.

Lost of rain. Rained on during my Millhopper road solo ride this morning and again on my way to work. The Millhopper ride was tough. I couldn't see much, my glasses were all wet and fogged up. Kind of a grit your teeth and slog through it situation. Somehow my time and watts were about the same compared to last week. On the ride to work I had to stop and deploy the rain cape.

I've learned that I can blitz through the red light going north on 34th through the intersection at University Ave. When the light turns red, the light for southbound traffic is still green for about 15 seconds. As long as no one is turning in front of me I can just speed through. Everyone else has red lights. I don't know why this makes me happy. It's like traveling through a worm hole or cheating death. One day I did the diagonal crossing intersection maneuver at Archer and 34th and then followed it up by smoking the red light at 34th and University. That was a good day.

Can't wait for my replacement cadence sensor to come in. My current one is totally malfunctioning.

Finally worked up the nerve to do the loco diagonal street crossing at Archer and 34th a couple of times. That is a really big intersection. I had every intention of getting a milkshake at Sweet Dreams Saturday night after work but when I rode up the place was packed.

It's getting hotter. I can't get away with riding to Walgreens in my work clothes anymore. Pretty soon I'll have to start using sun screen again.

Lots of car wreck debris in the bike lane of late. Glass, fender parts etc. I'm riding on Kevlar tires, so far no flats. I've biked through campus a couple of times lately on the way to work in order to return movies to video rodeo. It adds another 15-20 minutes to the ride.

Had a nice breeze behind me on the ride home today. I pulled a Christopher Cross and Rode Like the Wind.

Rode with the Gliders again this morning. I did better this time. I did get dropped by a few riders with about a mile and half to go. I was out front and they were riding my wheel for about 5 minutes. They past me in the home stretch I hung on right behind them for a few seconds then I was gassed.

These rides are kind of weird because unlike when I ride alone, there is a lot of variation in effort. Due to drafting off other riders there are times when I'm not pedaling at all. Then when it's my turn to lead I'm working pretty hard for about 5 minutes before dropping back.

Went to Bikes and More afterward. The Sempre needed it's wheel trued. Also my cadence sensor has been acting weird. While there I saw this wool knit shirt. It looked amazing and I made the impractical impulse buy of a long sleeved wool knit shirt for Florida weather that will soon be >90 degrees. Had a good time hanging out and riffing with the B&M'ers. Chandler was wandering around the parking lot for no discernible purpose.

Monday I blew out a couple more tires. As Dave at Bikes and More surmised, I was fucking myself by using the tire lever to get the tire back on the bike. Apparently they are just for taking tires off. He put the tire on in 2 seconds just using his hands with the dexterous ease of a clown making a balloon animal. Of course in my hands it would explode and there would be crying children everywhere.

Did the Millhopper loop later that day. It was a decent effort not totally loco. Average watts 174. My legs were still a little sore from last Friday.

Virginia has this million year old Schwinn is her parents garage. It is the bike she rode as a kid. It still basically fits her. It's pretty dilapidated but the frame is cool. Maybe we'll get it restored sometime.

Friday I biked the Race Track loop. I was doing a Bob Seger "Against the Wind" for half the ride but then at the end I pulled a Phil Collins because "Against All Odds" I was within a minute of my best time ever. In the home stretch I was out of the saddle pounding away. Then I heard a loud psssttttt! I had blown a tire. Rather than stop I did a James Brown being chased by the cops and rode on rims the rest of the way rather than stop 20 seconds away from the finish.

I missed my best time but it was pretty epic, like trying to reel in a giant fish only to have it get away.

Fired up about my new bungee cord configuration that keep the panniers on the bike more securely.

Rode with the Gliders this morning- about 30 miles. They ride faster than my previous group the Developers. I was doing well until about 4 miles away from the finish. I had just finished leading the group up some hills on Millhopper road. It was time to drop back and draft off the other riders. A gap opened up and I closed it but on the next hill I was pretty gassed and they got away from me for good. I caught up to the ride captain and we talked a little which was cool.

The Developers ride leader always said don't let a gap open up or your screwed. He was not wrong.

Well I was going to participate in this 15 kilometer time trial put on by the Gainesville Cycling Club. People show up, they stagger the starts by 30 seconds or so. It's an out and back course. The cyclists can't get to close to each other unless they are passing (ie no drafting).

Anyway it seemed kind of cool so I drove over to the meeting spot even though it was 40 degrees. I swallowed a caffeine pill and took a couple of hits off my Primatene Mist. I was ready to start poppin' spokes. I rolled up thinking "let's light this candle!"

There I was told that the course was 18 miles away from the meeting spot. It would take over an hour to get there. So this was looking like a 3 hour plus event. I had to be at work later and there was just no way.

Jesus, cyclists really know how to suck up the time. Man that's what I miss about running. You just show up, do the shit and you're good to go.

Anyway I called BS on the time trial and went to do my Millhopper loop solo. Saw my man Mark Ou in the Publix parking lot getting ready to run with some friends. He looked like a badass sporting this Fu Manchu beard and white arm sleeves. He asked about riding Hawthorne with us sometime. It could be cool.

Biked the Racetrack loop- 30 miles around midday. I guess Gator Nationals is coming up because there were signs and activity all around the area. 20 mph wind made the first 8 miles fly by. I was cooking at speeds up to 28 mph on flat land. The next 15 miles were biking into the wind and it was tough. The power meter helped because I could tell how hard I was working even though the speed was slower.

Afterward rode over to Bikes and More because part of the hood on the right grip had come off. Keith put it back on like it was nothing. I could hear Paul off in the background giving some couple his classic hard/soft sell. "Well you could get these and they would be fine. Or just to let you know there is a whole 'nother level. Now I personally..."

According to the power meter we each did about 876 KJ of work on the Hawthorne Trail.

I just want to go on record as saying those jive ass turkeys that ride around on bikes with like chain saw motors powering them are really starting to piss me off. What, you're too lazy to fucking pedal? You're defeating the whole purpose and beauty of biking. Shit.

I also want to go on record as saying I seem to be using a lot of profanity of late.

Saw Small Kid with Huge Backpack (SKHB) across the street this morning. He looked even more like an old man than usual because he was wearing these big ass beige old man shorts. I kept staring wishing I could take a picture. Just then he looked up and shot this terrifying glare right into my eyes.

You know me and you know I've seen some frightening things in my life. I'm talking some Blair Witch Project shit. But that little kid's death stare chilled me to the bone. He had these dark circles around his eyes and his skin looked like all the life had been sucked out of it.

Threw me off my game for the whole rest of the day.

Rode the Sempre on the Millhopper loop. 13mph headwind on the way back. Kind of tiring even though I was a couple of minutes off my faster times. Still getting back into the groove from being on vacation. My cadence sensor decided to malfunction at the start of the ride.

Cortina is in the shop. Should I ride the Sempre to work? I think I will.

Bikes and More just called. The Cortina needs a new chain and cassette. I'm also getting a stronger rim to hopefully keep the wheel from going out of true as often.

V and I rode down to the Top again tonight. I had eaten an entire Satchel's calzone mid-afternoon so I wasn't too hungry. I just had a salad. The wasabi green goddess dressing was good. I drank a White Russian followed by a Black Russian. I try to sample a different mixed drink each time I'm there.

Afterwards we biked over to the cupcake place. I have confirmed that the cupcake twins don't live above the shop. I think they have a cupcake intern because some dude in a blue shirt wandered over at one point and asked if everything was ok. We were just spaced out on the bean bags.

In NYC they do cupcake tours of all the notable bakeries. We need to do a G'ville sweet tooth equivalent sometime and hit up Sarkara Sweets, Karma Cream and Sweet Dreams all in one night. That would be the stuff of legends.

Need to drop off the Cortina at Bikes and More because it's not shifting properly. One of the people I rode with this morning complimented the Sempre and asked me where I bought it. I told them B&M and she said she didn't realize they sold Bianchi. Made we wonder if she had ever even been to B&M. That's like saying you didn't realize that Publix sells Coke. I get sensitive about Bikes and More around other cyclists because I feel like B&M doesn't get their due among the cycling club crowd.

Driving to work tomorrow because we are living right after my shift to go to Orlando to visit V's parents.

Rode the sempre for the first time since coming back from vacation. It was kind of weird because some random dude came up behind me and asked if he could ride on my wheel for a while. I was like sure whatever. I guess he wanted someone blocking the wind.

The ride itself was ok. I'm just easing back into things so I didn't go nuts.