COMMUTING

It's been a wild week here in East Tennessee! The tornadoes that ripped through here during the first of the week have the community jacked up. I'm in my own little world with the final stretch of classes this coming week, well actually I only have Monday and Wednesday and I'm done. Three finals and then ........... summer!





I have been wanting to get more mileage and needing to ride with more intensity, I need it. B changed my day at the shop from Wednesday to Tuesdays now and then work as needed. There hasn't been alot of repairs to do just ALOT of new bike sales. B can handle assembly and sales but he's overwhelmed when there's a ton of repairs. In the spirit of needing mileage I decided to take my commuting one step further, commute to Hampton as well as school! It's only 17 miles so it isn't that big a deal and it only takes 40-45 minutes at a moderate pace. I decided to make my first commute to Hampton this chilly Saturday morning, it was quite brisk, 50*. After the work day Melissa texted and asked if I wanted to get some more mileage in, heck yea. I rode over to where she works in Elizabethton and met here then we rode over to the Pedalfest route for a quick lap up to the dam and back. In the last 7 days I have ridden quite a bit, no I'm not training but it felt good to get the mileage I did this week. Over 137 with 3 road rides and 1 knobby ride. If I can keep this up I will be able to shake these last few pounds of winter blubber off me. That feeling of being really tired after a ride feels soooo good I have missed it.






The TNR (Thursday Night Ride), the local ride here in town, is at full form and there are sooo many riders that do this ride now. It's hard to believe that 8 local riders, including me, started a ride nearly 10 years ago and it has morphed into a huge weekly event that has no organization. Peeps just show up and leave at the scheduled time, like clock work, it's awesome! One thing I have noticed is that the "non-racer" types like to leave at 5:30 instead of riding with the faster "racer-types" that leave at 6:00. It's kinda neat and sorta like the Tuesday Pack Rides at Lamar, the last group usually catches the rear of the earlier group on the final climb at Buffalo. Being a slug this year I have been opting to go with the 5:30 departure but it seems that there's a fast group that leaves with the 5:30'ers as well that's just not the "racer-type". They can keep up a pretty good pace too, only 3-4 mph avg off the 6 O'clock group! I also like getting done at 7 instead of 7:30 so we can get to the Knight's beer selection sooner. So, "getting on the bike more" is improving and hopefully my ticker is getting stronger too! Viva le Cycle!











LAter G.........................