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2004-08-30 - 8:29 a.m.

Wow�what a weekend.

First off�I got my bike back on Friday. Can you say happy bear? In fact I was so happy that I immediately took the thing out for a good hard long ride.

It was only in the high 80�s and the humidity was around 88% so the riding condition sucked! But I persisted and not only did I finally conquer Clarks gap (at a healthy 12 mph) but I pushed on all the way to Hamilton. It was a 16 mile trip of which 8 miles was up hill�a 6 mile stretch up to Clarks gap, and then another 2 mile stretch coming back from Hamilton. In fact I rode so hard that I bout nearly puked when I got back to the top of Clarks gap on my return trip. How FUN!

Then on Saturday I cleaned house in expectation of my folks coming to visit. They were bringing my bed from Williamsburg�can you say excited? I finally have a real bed again. None of this little single bed action. I can roll over again!

Then it was riding again first thing on Sunday morning. Spun out another 14 miles. Went to Ashburn station and back. That is a nice fairly easy route. Not much shade though, so it makes for a very hot ride�even at 7am. My speed is going up nicely though. I was able to maintain between 15-20 mph for about half of that ride�but I am still tiring out pretty quickly.

Oh I forgot to mention that I woke up Sunday morning with a REALLY sore back. Not sure what caused it, but I had hoped that riding would help loosen it up. Um�no. No looseness at all.

Any how�back to my current problem.

For some reason I can�t seem to take a leisurely pace when I am out riding. It is as if every mile I have to give everything that I got. All or nothing. I think that this is one of the reasons that I am not breaking to 20 mile mark. I am not pacing myself. I see folks poking along the trail all the time�eating up the miles, smiles on their non-sweating faces�and I blast past them�legs burning, chest heaving�heart pounding�covered in sweat�and I think to myself, why can�t I slow down and go at an easy to moderate pace? Why all or nothing. So I sit up�slow down, and try to take it easier�and with in 2 or 3 minutes�I am back to hammering the best that I can.

How do I break myself of this? I want to start rolling up the miles�but I also want to become a stronger rider. Am I in some sort of catch 22?

Well today when I get home the plan is to roll out a simple 5 miles. 5 miles for real today�not hit the 2.5 mile mark and think�oh I have plenty more in me I�ll just push out another 5�and another 5�until I got nothing left again. Today I am going to try for a FAST 5 miles. Headed up Clarks gap and I am going to try and maintain 15mph for the 2.5 miles up there. I should be able to do it. I hope I can do it.

Well it is back to Manual hell for me. I am tired of working on this damn thing�but the end is in sight. And even if it is not, I have to have it done by the 22nd of Sept. So with that said�it is off to work for me.

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