Early Morning Le Tour Challenge Ride

So today, owing to various scheduling conflicts, I had to squeeze my Le Tour Challenge ride into the early morning. It wasn't easy to leave the house at 5:45, but it sure was worth it. After a week of intense heat and humidity, today we should finally get a break, with some thunderstorms, followed by cooler temps. Starting a ride this early meant that I avoided the worst heat of the day, as well as minor traffic woes, and it sure was a terrific way to jump start the old kicker. It made me think about all those hockey players who get out there at insane o'clock to get some rink time.

With limited time, I took on a familiar Lansing Route, and noticed to my dismay that my average speed when I reached the corner of Oakcrest and Triphammer was below 16 mph. It's usually just over 16, so I knew I had to make up some speed on the rolling hills heading to Terpening Corners. After pushing hard for the next 5 miles, I was feeling stronger than ever, and even a substantial headwind on the return trip didn't dampen my spirit.


I'm currently ranked 17th overall in the Le Tour Challenge, though who knows how that ranking will change as the Tour goes into the mountains. I vaguely recall that all these crazy Colorado cyclists start to really move up the rankings, as vertical ascent stats are taken more into consideration. It's really a fun game, and a great way to stay continuously motivated.












My love letter to the Saab driver that I encountered yesterday:


To the long-hair Saab-driving 20-something dude on Snyder Hill Rd.: I am very sorry to have cost you upwards of 15 seconds on your difficult commute to Cornell this morning. Also, I deeply regret causing you the stress of forcing you to extend your hand so forcefully on wheel in order to honk. Also, hopefully you didn't hyper-extend your right arm as you positioned it to flip me off. For a moment there, I totally forgot about the third-class status assigned to cyclists riding on Ithaca's lightly travelled rural roads.