!#@%*$@#!!!!

Shot bloks? Swearing? Sucking wind? Hating people? Having my chain jump off the chain ring, fixing it and then having to start up again on a really steep hill and hating myself for being horrible? Been there. Done that!

Time to move on and try something new. How about a 65.8 mile ride to Carlisle via route 225 and back via route 4 through Chelmsford and Billerica (home ada Mikeys) averaging 14.9 mph?!! Not that there wasn't a lot of the former activities along the way, 'cuz there was plenty o' that, indeed. I also indulged in a pitstop at a dunkin donits on rt. 40 where a guy asked me about what I was up to, where i was coming from and where i was headed. I ended up telling him all about Team Charlie and he left me with best wishes to relay to all of you for a great ride on Saturday.

A word about hills, though. This ride yesterday had plenty of them. big ones, little ones, steep ones and gradual ones. But I realized looking at the profile of my ride that the biggest hill of all of them is the first five miles of the minuteman. I know, it sounds wierd, but from Arlington to Lexington is about a 280 foot gain, what some people call "false flats". And even though other hills climb as high in a fraction of the distance, it still requires a significant effort. So I thought about how to use this information to help me physically and mentally face those later, steeper hills. And my trick was to use my gears to maintain a good turnover or "cadence" and keep my legs warm and moving the whole 65.8 miles, not coasting everytime I needed a rest, only to have to rebuild the strength to start moving again. Worry about keeping moving, I told myself, not speed or time or hills. Bizarrely, I had a much easier time climbing, a better attitude, enjoyed everything about the ride more and made amazing time. Even one of the hills that seemed endless, was still manageable because I just geared all the way down and slogged it out with the mantra, "just keep moving your legs, marge!"

So, why not take a ride on my hot air baloon? The hot air baloon of my mind!