Great day for a bike ride...

This is my buddy Chris from the local bike shop, the picture was taken on my "Lovettsville Loop" route, on Loyalty Road. Again, this is one of my favorite routes.

Chris and I left early this morning and run up to Purcellville, just like I did with Mark and Josh last week. The day was slightly warmer and more sunny, and our total ride time was less than 6 minutes longer than last week.

I attribute the added time to the slow/stops and restarts for taking a few pictures, something I've been meaning to do on this route for a while. There are 4 more pictures on the web site in the photo news, or archives if you're reading this way out of date!

Chris is a strong rider, absolutely killing me on climbs. I can hold my own with him on flats I think, and I bury him going downhill, but he can kill me on a climb. There are plenty of climbs on the ride, and my omputer recorded 22% grades both uphill and down. It was a great ride though, fantastic weather, and Main Street Wings after the ride.

This ride puts me close to 1070 miles for the year, only 140 miles short of my total for 2005. I blew a spoke on a ride Saturday, and the repaired wheel held up fine today, but it needs to be re-laced over the winter.

Tomorrow I have to run Terri to Bolling AFB for an appointment, and then I'm supposed to ride with Mark, and maybe his girlfriend Adrian on Wednesday.