I threw on my kit: Refunds Now grabbed my Garneau rain cape and headed towards the red Cannondale with black carbon fiber Spinergy Rev Xs. A quick squeeze of the front tire then the back and I was...whoa...a little soft on the rear tire. Fuck. Already I was feeling time slipping away. I had missed the whole spring ahead garbage with the clock and was already an hour behind when I wanted to head out. As much as I love the Rev X wheels, its a pain to change out a tube because your need one of 2 things, a valve extender to accommodate for the increased aerodynamic profile of the rims OR an extra long stem (of at least 60mm in length) on the replacement tube. I had neither, or more appropriately, i didn't know where they were in my house.
Mountain bike away we go. I grabbed the Titus and rolled out the door. The original plan called for the usual fire road run via Blitzkrieg trail to Arcadia and back. It must've been the wind or now, the rain showering down on me. (Yep, I couldn't believe my luck: cloudy and over cast all morning BUT the flippin moment I head out the door, showers. JFC.) I ended up, deciding to do a mix: JCT 165/3 on the rad to Mt Tom Road onto Blitzkrieg trail.
Feeling fresh I hit Route 3 in under 5 minutes...not bad for the MTB, fat tires and all. I turned North and began the climb to JCT165. I didn't have a bike computer so all I had was the HRM and new Zone 1 one settings:160-180 bpm. I didn't remember how to set the HRM to read actual Zone 2 settings 161-180 bpm's so I did the easiest thing and updated Zone 1 to be the same as Zone 2. 
My legs felt heavy, good, muscular, strong. I really could feel the extra rolling resistance on the wider tires and 'new' riding position. I kept looking down at my shoe/cleat position. I think I'm already have the cleat as far back as it could possibly go. My team mate Syl had told me about racers altering their cleat position on the cycling shoes in an effort to utilize more of the quadriceps muscles used for pedaling. It makes sense. Conventional wisdom dictates the cleat position to be towards the front of the shoe in order to allow full extension of the leg and thereby generating more power and/or better pedaling efficiency.
I'll have to open his email and check for my self, but I think my cleat position is already back far enough or is similar enough to the 'new' position. I say this because my position on my MTB is somewhat different than my road and I can feel my quads working harder on the MTB than on the Road bike. We'll see.
The road debris had gotten worse since the last rain and I was thankful I was riding my MTB rather than the Road bike. I didn't avoid pot holes or slop on the road, plow right over, bunny hopped over whatever I felt like. I was feeling pretty good, rain and all. The weather was mild enough where underneath my rain cape the overall day felt like a cool summer's rain ride. Incredible. (Looking out the window near my laptop and guess what? No rain and brighter clouds.)
I crested JCT 165/3 and began the descent down 165 towards Arcadia. I swung left onto Mt Tom Road and sprinted, because I felt like it. I spotted the turn on Blitzkrieg trail and took it. Immediately I felt the softness of the fire road and began the push. Down pedal stroke. Up pedal stroke. Steer. Steer. It wasn't hard, just required more effort
While I pedalled. I felt moments of smoothness. Quickly followed by moments of struggle. Between one of those moments I watched a large white tailed female mule deer thunder across the fire road about 10 yards away from me. Good-thing there wasn't a bear chasing it or a rifle shot after it. I wasn't too concerned about the hunter part, my RFN kit has plenty bright orange on it, I almost think I don't need safety orange to ride trail in these parts. (I'm partially serious).
I approached the last few hundred yards of Blitzkrieg Trail with a good effort sprint back onto Arcadia Road and finally make the right turn towards home. Overall I was satisfied with today's change in plans. I know where I must concentrate on in the final 2 weeks before the King of Burlingame and we'll see from there. I'm about as ready as I can be for the 201 season, not where I'd like given my circumstances (returning from injury) but enough to feel just OK with it. The old me would've gone out yesterday in the torrential rains and wind all the sake of racing and training. And if I was home I most likely would have gone out but "Hey!"
"I was busy..."
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