The Next Day

I woke up Saturday feeling better. All week, we had been planning a long ride on Saturday. The weather was supposed to be warmer and we were going to take the road bikes out. I haven't been out on my road bike for weeks. I miss it. My road bike could not be more different than my mountain bike. It is a steel framed Rogue.
Rogues were built locally by an individual who has since decease. I forget his name, but there used to be a memorial ride for him every year. I can remember when I first got it. I had never been on a road bike before. I had recently injured my ribs wakeboarding and couldn't run, my previous exercise of choice, because it was too painful. I had started riding my mountain bike, then a Schwinn Moab, on the road. Chris would ride with me of course, but he would drop me all of the time and get frustrated that he had to slow down. My acquistion of a road bike was to be the answer. If I was on a road bike and he was on a mountain bike the theory was we would riding about the same pace. Our theory worked for a period of time. Chris eventually got jealous and had to get a road bike also. The answer to riding together now is drafting.
Back to my Rogue, I bought it on consignment. When I first rode it, I could not beleive how fast I felt. It has 650 wheels (vs. my 29 inch mountain wheels). The original paint was a light green that faded into a deep purple whith tan and white flecks. It reminded me of the circus and every time I road it I would play circus music in my head. I have since had it powder coated a bright (Maxxis) orange. Chris sanded down the Wound Up fork to its original carbon fiber color. Now it looks a little more serious. Alghough I still stand out a bit when I ride with Chris and Tim.
So like I said, I was feeling better in the morning. Chris warned me before we went riding that if I didn't feel well I shouldn't do too much. That sounded like a challenge to me, but I did understand what he meant. We have a race in two weeks and being sick will make it absolutely miserable. We rode in and picked up Tim. We were riding in this university subdivision to avoid some traffic. As we were exiting through a pedestrian gate, this deer almost ran into Tim, who was in the lead, then two more came galloping by. It was crazy. We rode with Tim for a while and then dropped him off and rode towards Adam's house. He met us about half way and we rode with him some and ended up near our house. We put in about five hours of pedal time and went 80 miles. I felt pretty good for the most part. If I pushed hard my throat would burn like there were razor blades in it. It was worst at the start and end of the ride. There was about an hour or so in the middle where I felt really good. My body felt great, it was just my throat that bothered me. Overtrained? Whatever.