Springtime night ride

The phone rings at 5:15pm. It's DT. "Hey man, it's 70 degrees and beautiful outside...wanna go for a road ride?". It's January 13th. I'd be stupid not to take advantage of this weather. "Sure", says I. I haven't been on a bike since my overly ambitious attempt at a CCT full length ride in late December. A road ride can't be any more taxing than that was.

We meet in Vienna, hop on the bikes, and head west on the W&OD trail. It's a slight downhill from Vienna heading west, and we have a bit of a tailwind (a fact that we didn't realize until we turned around much later). So we kept a near-20mph pace for longer than I thought I could manage. We ride for 30 or 40 minutes before deciding to turn around (hello, headwind!). We got back to Vienna with just over an hour of riding done. I think we covered about 16 miles. Oddly enough, I felt pretty good. The only thing bugging me was a stiff neck and shoulders. One day when I'm rich and famous, I'm going to get a custom made freak-sized bike (maybe two). It would be interesting to see how a bike is *supposed* to fit me.

Anyway, back in Vienna. Pop into the world famous Vienna Inn for some quick post-ride refreshments (wearing my "I still hate George Bush" shirt...I wasn't sure whether or not we'd end the night in a barroom brawl). Eat, drink, BS, then it's out the door for home. Great ending to a great ride. And we didn't even have to throw any punches :)