Friday Scramble: August 1, 2014

Run Schmitty, run
Ouchie. That run last night was tough. It's peak volume season and the last big building block before Ironman. This week that means a mid-week long run in favor of more riding and varied workouts over the weekend. The interwebs at the Training Peaks told me to run 2:30:00. I got in 17.5 of varying intensities over the course of 2:17:00. And all of it felt like the last 6.2 miles of a marathon. All of it. Maybe I have cumulative fatigue setting in, maybe it was doing the run at the end of the day, maybe it was the three tostadas that I had for lunch (jk). Well it's in the bank now as we endurance athletes say. But I feel like I made this deposit and the bank teller was Chuck Norris and Chuck Norris really didn't want me to make the deposit. It is what it is. Just gotta get my head wrapped around 9 hours in the saddle this weekend.

Go me.

Along for the ride
So this past Tuesday I'm out for a morning gallop on my steed and I pass this gent out on his mountain bike and offer him a cheerful good morning.  If I had to venture a guess I would say that he was a wrench (bike mechanic). He was riding on what appeared to be a custom build, he had his old school cycling cap (no helmet), large black hipster eye glasses, and, at well over 6 feet tall, looked like his legs could deliver the hurt at the front of any Saturday morning testosterone fueled club ride. After I passed he worked to catch up to me and then he sat on my wheel for about a half mile. I got a little irritated but I also didn't want to be a jerk and bogart his ride but I sat up. He squared up next to me and I smiled and told him I wasn't going to pull him. Well this got his Warby Parkers a little bent out of shape and we traded a couple of jabs and then he went back to sitting on. Now, I get it...I could have just rode and done the whole cyclist as band of brothers thing...but here's why I'm irritated. I don't know what kind of cyclist he is. I didn't invite him to sit on. And by sitting on he puts me in a position to lead. I have to think about every need to brake and minor navigation in the road so he doesn't come plowing up into my wheel. I let him sit on the rest of the way down Willow Springs Road when I could have been a complete tool and sat up entirely and come to a stop.

Am I alone in feeling this way? I don't think I am but am open to hearing out the court of public opinion on this one.

-HIM