Thinking of XC11

We are still trying to find a buyer for our house and meantime we got our loan commitment today which means that we will almost certainly have a period of paying on two houses and trying to decide which one to live in...I may just check myself into the nearest mental institution before this little adventure is completed. I had intended to drive up to Hamburg NY and join the XC11 folks - Harry and Barbie to be specific - and ride to Canandaiga. However, our realtor thought she had an offer on the house and so leaving became impossible. The offer did not come in today so after hanging around for a awhile I took off on the bike around noon. With no set plan I started wondering whether I could have even completed the XC course today. It was about 95 miles and with my erratic schedule I was not at all sure I could even keep up with those folks. So I decided on the more hilly courses through Mercer and adjoining Hunterdon - basically the Anchor House training ride with a few extra miles tacked on. In spite of going out midday there was a bit of a breeze and just enough cloud cover to keep the sun from really beating down with its full fury. In the end I did 68 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing (and expended 4500 calories) and averaged 14.6 mph. Not too bad I judged and I pulled into the driveway thinking that I could have done at least another 20...So much as I missed seeing my XC09 friends I was certainly with them in spirit and was happy to check the blogs tonight and see that they too had a good ride....