Today was supposed to be a training ride. One of the local racers has offered to coach me for a day - basically do the shop ride's route - stopping and talking about climbing technique, strategy, pace lines, and tips to ride stronger and better. He's been coaching me and two others for the past several weeks on the ride. This time, he was going to coach us on a more one-to-one basis.
I call him my "little coach." If you've seen the movie "Ratatouille" you know that Linguini referred to Remy, the rat, as "Little Chef" - who controlled and coached his cooking in the restaurant. Well, Little Coach barks out instructions to me "C'mon...breathe, breathe, breathe....in through your nose...out through your mouth. C'mon. Sip. Sip. Sip. Give me one more gear! Don't waste my time. C'mon. Get on my wheel!" All in his distinctive Moroccon accent! Well, follks say I've been riding stronger since following Little Coach's instructions. I was really looking forward to this ride.
But...sigh... we awoke to rain this morning. He decided it best to postpone.
So...DH and I did a puttering route through Rock Creek Park. Saw a few folks we know. Stopped in to the shop (I got a flat because of the wet roads...and decided to finally go to CO2 for the road bike, too).
But then...best of all...DH and I went up to the local reservoir with DivingBiker for a bit of boat time....she in her kayak, and we in our new old canoe. It was the first time taking the canoe out - much higher up than the kayaks, and it caught the brisk wind like a sail.
Now, I'm beat.