Blue skies...and more.

Today was one of those absolutlely perfect days for cycling. Low humidity, a slight breeze, and perfectly blue skies-not a cloud in sight. The Anchor House ride is coming up and I am not going to be doing it this year and the cross country is over for the year-I didn't do that either. So I get on the bike for the sheer love of cycling and that was truly my feeling today. I did 65 miles with about 3700 hundred feet of climbing (including a couple of 18-20% grade for a short duration) and felt like I could have done a century. I think the hardest part of the end of the xc ride (aside from the violent circumstances) was the end of the kind of fantasy feeling that life was only all about getting up, getting on the bike, and just riding to the next destination and knowing that that was our only responsibility every single day. It is, of course, a kind of fantasy but also a wonderful experience. My mind was running full tilt today with thoughts of XC 09 partly because I had a phone call yesterday from Barbie Rojas, one of our 09 colleagues who is doing the full ride over three year segments. I plan to do the final segment myself next year as does she. So, of course, I rode today thinking of last year's ride and scheming and planning for the completion in 2011. We did agree that we would be thinking of this next 11 months as training for the final stage. I may have said this before but if I could truly bring life to fantasy and dreams I would start again in Los Angeles and do the entire cross country trip in one act. For a lot of reasons that is fantasy however and Champaign to Boston is far more practical and doable. In the meantime I've got plenty of reason to ride and prepare and it is a bonus to think there will be an 09'r on the ride with me.