My leg is doing better, I got the stitches out and although I still have a scab and my leg (and arm) are still occasionally sore, I'm well on the way to being healed. I've been back on my bike a few times for short rides.
Last Sunday was the Tour of Prince William ride. It's put on by the Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition. This was the second year of the ride. They offered a 10mile, 25mile, and 63mile (metric century) ride. I really wanted to do the 25m ride, it was the right length but I didn't like the course. The ride started at the Marine Corps Museum and all the rides went through Quantico Marine Corps Base, around the town of Quantico, and off the base. I've never been on the base and the town is right on the river. It's a cute little town and all the stores (obviously) cater to the marines that surround them. The 10m ride came out of the base and went back to the Museum to finish. The 25m ride left the base and went to Prince William Forest Park (into the park, around the loop, then out), then back to the finish. The 63m ride came out of the base and rode all over the place, finally finishing back at the museum.
While the 25m ride would have been the right length, I'm not sure I would have made the hills in PWFP. I've done Scenic Drive loop many times and if you go counterclockwise there's a couple of pretty good hills at the end. I probably could have handled those. The problem is that there are a few bigger hills on the main road that goes into the park to link up with Scenic Drive. I didn't think that after the 10 miles around the base then into the park that my legs would be up to tackling the hills into and out of the park. So instead of doing that ride, I went for the 63m ride. Call me crazy!
I rode with a long time friend of mine. We're pretty equally matched in speed so the two of us rode together and Bob went off with a friend of his. His friend rides a bit faster than Bob but they stayed together and were way ahead of us. My friend and I enjoyed our ride, we had a good time chatting (which probably slowed us down a bit), the people manning the checkpoints were really nice and fun to talk with while we refueled and they encouraged us to keep going. We finished and weren't last. The big thing was finishing!
It was a long ride and several sections were long, flat, sunny stretches. I'm happy we did it, not sure I'd do it again...at least not anytime soon. The last few miles of the ride were agonizing - a long, slow uphill and it was along Rt. 1, which at that time of day was pretty busy.
I was definitely sore when I got home. Too long in the seat! Monday my shoulders and neck felt really tight, I guess I need to work on keeping my shoulders down when I ride. My legs were feeling good and the sore seat didn't last too long either.
They said next year they were looking at moving the ride to the western part of the county. That will be nice; it's flatter and there's a lot less traffic out that way. They were also going to try to have a mid-range ride. After the ride while we were talking with one of the organizers he said that it was really hard to map out the routes this year and there was no good way to do a ride in the 35m range. Hopefully next year they'll be able to do a 35 or 40m ride.
And just for the record - winter is right around the corner. From a few forecasts I've seen, it looks like it could be an awesome winter! For now I need to get back out on my bike again.
