Who's back?

I'm back!!

After a week of terrible weather and focusing on finishing last minute jobs around the condo in order to get it 100% Open House Ready... there was little to no blog or ride time.

Sunday things came together all around.  During the Open House I grabbed the opportunity to get out on my bike so I hit the streets.  It felt like forever since I had been on a bike, so I figured pounding in some road miles into my legs would be the jump start I needed.   I felt FANTASTIC for the first 30+ miles.  I seemed to have unlimited power and I was easily averaging over 20 mph (when not dealing with traffic lights) - which was surprising considering I started the ride with far too few calories in me.

I had a bunch of Gu, and two bottles of water (stopped for refills toward the end of the ride) and used what I had generously throughout the ride.  I didn't want to kill myself during the ride, but I did want to push myself to the edge.  And I'd have to say, mission accomplished.

I forced myself into just about the worst cramps I've had on a bike thus far.  It started with my left thigh.  Nothing too bad at first, just enough to put the cramping concern in the back of my mind.  As I hit the "turn back" point of my loop I came to a red light.  I was taking a left and as I stopped my calf seized up as my toes touched the curb.  Luckily the light turned green so I had no time to let the cramps set in as I jumped back on the pedals, right into a gradual climb.  At this point both calves started playing with me, back and forth they would twitch and twinge.

Just as they seemed to settle back in the attack came from my thighs.  For the last 10+ miles of the ride my thighs knots just couldn't seem to push me past 17-18 mph.  I would push and push, but just didn't have anything left.  I was audibly moaning at points as I got closer and closer to home.  Even though my legs were blown by the time I got home, I was so happy to be out riding again.  I was SUPER happy to see that Strava approved of my efforts - awarding me with my highest "suffer score" yet: 247, an "extreme" rating.

The route I devised today was pretty nice, pretty flat, but filled with tons of other riders.  Could have used a little more elevation as I liked pushing myself to get it up any incline I came across.  I also enjoyed "picking" off riders as I came up on them.  As I'd see someone ahead on the road I set to task to over take them and leave them behind.  Any "challenges" I can give myself out there just help with the overall training I need to put back into my legs.

Looking at the weather it looks like more rain for the beginning of the week... booo that!  But, race preparations, and participation, should hopefully be back on track for me.  After the Open House we had a couple offers, as well as two agents of interested buyers coming by today to check out the place so they can best advise their clients.  Our agent is asking all those who are interested to enter their "best and final" today by 6 so we can weigh the offers.  This is super exciting!!

To top it off, we had AMAZING seats for the Celtics last night.  The seats were a gift for Annie's birthday, they were even better than a certain presidential hopeful.

Mitt Romney was in the house (about 7 rows behind us) along with his security team.  During warm-ups all the photographers were just lined up along the court shooting back into the crowd... during time outs camera crews would line up and just focus on him... guess they were hoping to catch him eating a hot dog or something?

Anyway, the Celtics handled the Hawks easily last night - caping off a great Birthday weekend for Annie.  Now it's back to it... hopefully with a deal in motion for the condo so we can relax and enjoy our time left in Boston... and I can get back to riding and racing!