Let the fun begin.

Memorial day weekend and I've got zero plans.
Nothing fun.
I start it out with a ride road with the some OHB people.
Nice lite B paced ride after work Friday.
I did actually get to the front of the pace line and pulled for a bit although I think I screwed up and pushed the pace up a hill a little fast. The mtb'r in me took over for a few minutes. Redline it up the hill and then rest at the top.
Talking to some of the folks after the rides, one of them said they could tell I was a MTB'r.
What'd she mean by that?

Saturday I decide to get in some sm100 base training.
I'm really starting to dread these sessions.
I load the cooler up and go to Rosaryville.
The goal is 5 laps. I finished 4 a few weeks ago.
1. Doc meets me there. Cool. He's not feeling "on fire" today but is keeping a good pace for my long day.

2.We run into Eric (rose liason) at the trailhead. Great. Some fresh blood. I throw him in the lead. He ran a little faster than I would have liked, alot faster than Doc would have liked, but it was fun.

3. Docs out. One day he'll got in 3 laps, but not today. Eric and I get a lap in with a 10 minute break to try to fix a growing mud hole. Not exactly in my original plans, but this this was starting to eat evan my 29" tires.

4. See Randy and his wife at the trailhead. They plan on a real casual pace, so I tell them I'll see them during after the next lap. I lose Eric. He got in his 2 laps and is going to Quantico tomowrow. If I wasn't so dead set on the damned sm100, I would have quit and saved some energy to join him tomowrow. I didn't I do lap 4.
Legs start feeling heavy on this lap.

5. Ok. Final lap. No problem. Legs are getting really heavy. I slipped down into granny gear once during the lap. Still flowing good. My ascents are really getting slow but I'm in control and keeping speed on the tech and flowing turns.
I finish and am not completely dead.
What the hell. I've already wasted myself for anychance of riding tomowrow. I might as well empty the tank.

6. BONUS LAP.**
Makes it sound fun, doesn't it.
It wasn't.
A rider passes me about a 100 yards into the trail while I'm talking on the phone to the wife.
Ahh, I've got my rabbit.
He's pretty slow so keeping an excellent pace for me. I keep getting close to him on the descents but let him pull away on the hills. I got a little too close I guess. He gets tired of me following and pulls over to let me by. Shit. No more rabbit. I'm on my own.
1/2 way through I'm hurting. I start thinking about bailing to the road. But these long base rides are supposed to hurt and teach me to push thru the pain.
I hear that endurance rides are more about mental toughness. We'll this is that point I've been trying to get to all day. I want to quit but don't.
I push on and finish the lap.

I thought I was going to have to ask for help from another rider to get my bike into my truck after the ride. I was totally trashed. Sure it would have been a boost to his morale (hey honey, I had to help this big guy put his bike on his truck), I decided against it.
Goal complete.
Afterwards, I rewarded myself with some bbq corn chips, soft pretzel, and a MD code red. (Do the Dew?)

No more.
From now on, I'm either spending the time on the road, or real long rides on some real trails.

seeya