26 miles

I turned the cranks with my upstairs neighbor / new friend again last night. Chris and I took the same route across the G-dub Bridge into NJ. crossing the bridge my legs felt like oak blocks. I hadn't ridden since last week and it took me a while to loosen up. Once we were northbound along the palisades, the oak blocks softened into wood pulp and I was feeling great. The evening temperature was ideal; it must have been in the low eighties or high seventies and the trees along route 9W provided relief from the rapidly setting sun. It felt great to be riding in a cool weather kit for once. As we infiltrated the NJ suburbs conversation ranged from Italian foods, olive oils, cockroaches, the economy, beer and Philadelphia.

Chris spinning his Cannondale Caad 9

On the way back we latched onto a powerful rider and sucked his wheel for an awkwardly long time. I moved up in front of him to pull the train for a bit only to be passed about a minute later. Recovering behind him I felt rude because I wasn't taking my turn in the wind so I moved up in front of him again. I pulled the train for another two or three minutes before he powered past me and took the lead again. In retrospect I don't think he wanted to share his ride and instead was trying to drop Chris and I (and another rider who had latched onto Chris' wheel). Whatever the case, my legs are pleasantly sore today as a result of my efforts. Feels great to working hard on the bike again. With the sun sitting low on the horizon we entered Manhattan and my thoughts turned towards salmon, potatoes and asparagus which I devoured after hanging up the bike.