with tomorrow being bike to work day (which is still mandatory, so no questions at this point please) all good citizens collectively let their minds drift towards alternative transportation. i decided to get in some early practice last night, as you can never be too prepared. i had corresponded with robb hampton about hooking up with him to ride out to the greenbelt race from dc. when i had not heard from him at 17:00h, i went ahead and made my own arrangements. the rough plan was to ride to greenbelt, race and then rode to the metro and take the metro home. i apologize in advance for the lack of pictures for this post. I had the camera but the threat fo rain made me lock it away in several ziploc bags.
i left the office and headed out through capitol hill and north-east washington. interestingly, i ran into dana from coppis who yelled my name. i stopped and we chatted for a few moments. he pointed out some pretty ominous looking clouds on the horizon, and said he was bagging his plans to head to hains point. i asked if he wanted to accompany me to greenbelt and he declined graciously, but suggested to me that i might get caught in the downpour. being pigheaded, i decided to prove him, the empirical evidence produced by nexrad, radar and satellite, and all the idiot weathermen wrong.
the ride out rhode island avenue to riverdale is actually pretty nice. without working too hard, i was clearly moving faster than traffic. josh and i lived in riverdale so i was tempted along the way to ride past some of our old haunts but was pressed for time and passed. for those who are interested, travel time is about 45 minutes. and speaking of alternative transportation, i was very happy ot see the traffic circle between mt.ranier and hyattsville. a little taste of europe. just lookout for the monster pothole on the north-east side. it's a wheel eater and invisible to you if there are cars in front.
instead of going up kenilworth to university, i elected to enter the park on the south side and follow the road that goes by the campground. it was a nice ride but just began to sprinkle lightly as i entered the park. the friendly road guards said the race was still on so i rolled up to registration. it was working smoothly. they still had bagels and peanut butter and nutella. right on.
it's important to note that your powers of observation are what will help you improve as a cyclist. we can all only train to a certain point, and after that it's making good choices and psychological toughness. i have to hand it to the rockville harley guys; they had their game going early. sean barrie tried to distract me with talk about our recent crashes while mark johnson swooped in and took the other half of the bagel i was planning on fueling up with. at least he opted for peanut butter and didn't take the last of the nutella. incidentally, nutella is the fuel. we dont' really do sponsorship, but i do believe i am allowed to sing the praises of products i like. so here goes: noooooo....teeeellll.....aaaahhhh......is the bomb.
i'm sure it won't be nearly as good as what servio will deliver tomorrow at freedom plaza, but we do what we can. the greenbelt race was uneventful up until a bad crash in the b race took down two of dc velo's finest. the latest updates on their condition can be found here. i think i speak for all of us when we wish both of them and marjan a quick recovery. while it was hard to see them all in obvious states of significant discomfort, it was heartening to see the racers generally just stop racing and a lot of people stop to see if there was anything they could do to help.
it's been a while since i habitated in that area so i want to also send out a very quick thanks to the whole route 1 velo team for providing a volunteer to lead me to the metro station since i was clearly dis-combob-ulated and incorrectly thought i knew the route. thats a nice series, and they are nice peoples. as if the nutella was not enough. i remember pete lindeman saying to me a year or two ago that he'd be satisfied doing nothing but racing greenbelt all summer. i agree, if only i could find a way to move to greenbelt from where i am now and drop the interminable post race commute.
on a totally separate note, i want pictures tomorrow from bike to work day. email them to me and i'll be sure they get up. that means you. yeah, the picture part, that's mandatory as well.
- - - posted by scott