You may say to yourself, “My God, what have I done?”

Having completed a couple weeks of riding the trails around the lake, it seemed appropriate time to start pushing my endurance a little bit. The plan was three laps around the lake, which would be about 21 miles or about 60% of the length of the Southern X course.

Another banner day for weather, I had a couple of clothing options I brought. I’m getting a tad concerned that I’ll get all these miles in with weather in the sunny, low 50’s only to come into Dahlonega and it be rainy and 35 degrees. Not much to do with it now.

So, for today, it was baselayer, tights, vest and arm warmers, two sets of gloves and the headband around my cap. I ended up getting rid of the sleeves, vest, one pair of gloves and headband about midway through, but they were necessary at the start. I think I may be packing quite the bag for Georgia.

The ride itself went rather well. I felt strong and the mud was less a worry this time around. I was able to push a little harder. I had decided to forego the reggae and try my ‘mid-80’s wave’ mix – Echo & the Bunnymen, Talking Heads, R.E.M. and the like. Turns out I really pick up every time something from “Stop Making Sense” came on. Interesting. Maybe the reggae had me a little too mellow. Perhaps I should save it for post ride tunage…

The third lap started to put a little pang in my side as I was finishing up. Not so much that I’d stop, but that I noticed it. Good.

Saw E cleaning up a borrowed bike in his driveway. He rode the Toilet Bowl Duathlon the day before on a pal’s bike. Caught up a bit, which is nice.

Ride stats:
Start temp: 47
End temp: 52
21.31 distance (three laps)
12.67 avg speed
20.15 mph max
70 avg. cadence
100:53 time