things I've learned

Sorry for the late post...I had no idea there was such a demand.

As most know, I also coach volleyball. A couple of years ago one of our new coaches emailed the rest of us after his first weekend of coaching girls in a volleyball tournament. His email started off something like this:

Things I've learned this weekend...
Sometimes girls will cry for no reason at all.

He went on to list a few other things that were pretty funny. I've stolen this format from him once before. Many of you may have even received that email after my initial start at training for the Italy trip. It went something like this:

Things I've learned this weekend...
Hills suck and I'm out of shape.

I honestly don't remember what else I had on the list so I'm compelled to make a new one. So, for the second time I'm ripping off my friend Mike's original email.

Things I learned this weekend...
1. Four days off in a row is TOO many for Cupcake and Helix. The first 10 minutes of my ride were hard. I didn't like that. I will not go that long without riding again, if I can help it.
2. Despite being off Helix for four days, it wasn't as detrimental as I thought it would be. For a much longer ride my max speed (which has been steadily increasing) was the same and so was my average, including all the new hills I added.
3. No matter how I feel during the first part of a ride, I am ALWAYS going to feel better in the second half.
4. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I really missed riding this weekend. I think I've actually become a little addicted.

Since it had been so long I thought I owed myself a longer ride so I rode about 21 miles, my longest weekday ride yet. I combined the BCM and my Walmart loop. It was kind of tough since the part I added was all uphill. But it felt good. I might have even felt a little nauseated, although fortunately nothing came to fruition.

FYI, the bike shop forgot about Pinky's wheel so he still doesn't have it. Won't be ready until Wednesday. That means more than a week off Big Red for Pinky. Ouch.