More Saturday thoughts on Sunday morning

There wasn't enough house-hunting to be done Saturday afternoon, so I rode the club ride from Bluegrass Bicycle before heading home. I wound up with just under fifty miles for the day--and had I gotten organized, would have ridden another few on the Raleigh to do some shopping just to trip the next color in the MyCyclingLog report.

I rode yet a different bike on the club ride. I'd ridden Jenn's Giro a couple of times, including once on the club ride last season, because it was a) there, with my Strada at home, b) I either didn't have one of my own bikes there or c) didn't want to ride the Vanguard, wanting to ride something faster. On that fairly hilly/rolling twenty-four or so mile course, I managed to average a bit over 17mph. I have not yet gotten around to attaching the cadence sensor on this bike, so I couldn't monitor that, but I could still feel it pretty well.

On the way home--on the Vanguard--I had another ugly-attitude motorist encounter. It would be pretty funny except that such twits (or their female counterparts) are herding large, dangerous hunks of metal in such close proximity to me as I travel from place to place. I also wonder whether such people recognize the example they are setting for their children who happen to be in the car with them when they act such jerks, or whether they see any sense of irony in their being such jerks when they accuse me of being selfish by cycling instead of driving.

In any case, I was feeling pretty good as I rode home. I was pedaling well, feeling reasonably strong if not fast. In one somewhat odd moment, a motorist pulled up beside me a bit west of Westport Middle School and opened his passenger-side power window to ask if he could take a picture with his cell phone. Aghast at the attempt to multi-task in traffic, and not interested in having my picture taken, AND conscious (far more conscious than the driver, apparently) that there was other traffic wanting to pass me, I waved him off. Thankfully, he took the hint and drove off. I don't know whether he realized the danger in which he could have been putting all of us, and doubt that he did.

A bit later in my ride, as I was nearing the construction (constriction?) zone on Westport Road, my legs started telling me that they could cramp if they wanted. I kept the cramps at bay until I was well off Westport Road and into the neighborhood I often use to get out of the constriction zone--indeed, I was in the parking lot behind the Hubbards Lane Kroger store and the attached shopping center before having to stop and shake out my leg muscles a bit. I didn't have the severe cramps I've had on other rides, but it was worth stopping for a moment and letting the muscles settle a bit before riding the last mile or so to get home.