Not Racing Is Allright Sometimes...

There's actually a stage race, out in westlake, and I decided against it, to finally give my body a break from burying myself week after week. It's going well. Woke up early (7:30) this morning to join a group to climb the crest. Hauled ass because I was late, as usual, but made it. Ended up being just Dave, James, and me going up. We caught and passed some other riders, and the higher we went, the colder it got. The low temp on the thermo was 5 (celsius), and the extremities were definitely in difficulty -but...the legs felt okay! Finally, they felt half-decent for the first time in weeks. We rode tempo the entire way...tempo usually stops at the first summit, but nope, all go, all the time today. I've been doing a "detox" routine this last week, no vitamins, optygens, coenzyme q10s, etc. Just some recovery drinks here and there thrown in so I wouldn't completely die. And yeah, today the legs felt pretty swell. Finally.

The ride wasn't without difficulty, however. The hardest part of today's ride came at around the sixth hour. I was about 10 miles from home. I was starving. There was a Chipotle nearby, and I had $5 in my pocket....hmm, yeah, turned in and ordered a veggie burrito. The hispanic woman working the "beans and peppers" area must have liked the Amgen kit, 'cause after she put the black beans and fajita peppers, she looked up and asked "more?". Having a pretty substantial caloric deficit, it probably isn't surprising that I said "yeah, please", while trying to contain my excitement. Shortly after, a burrito with a double serving of black beans AND peppers made it's way down the assembly line to the salsa area. "Hi. What salsas would you like?". "All of them. No sour cream". There was no offer of "more?" this time, as the burrito was well past its maximum capacity for proper closure. So she put the salsas and guac in, and I was laughing aloud from giddiness. Paid, sat down. Geezus. No, seriously, this guy was 6" WIDE. Some holes had opened up from the pressure. Gigantic, in every sense. I started eating it, fast, and was about 1/4th through when I looked back, to see if maybe a small crowd had assembled behind me, with hopes of witnessing some super-human feat. To my surprise, however, there was no crowd. So I kept at it, and though I fell way off my early pace, I eventually triumphed over the burrito, and made it home about 30 minutes later. Definitely one of my prouder moments.