Day 12: Recovery Ride and More Pictures!

Today was an easy day, since I'm a little worn out from our long ride yesterday and we are getting up early tomorrow to get a ride in before it gets really hot.  In case anyone was wondering, I am NOT a morning person.  Bern is basically a saint for putting up with me any time before 8AM/before I've had caffeine (or bacon, don't ask me why but the stuff really cheers me up for some reason).  Yesterday I woke up and pretended that it was just a bad dream that the alarm was going off at 6AM and I was only a few minutes away from physical activity.  Apparently when Bern came in to wake me up, I turned over to look up at him, growling the whole time, and said, "NO" very firmly before going face-down back into bed.  I don't remember this, although I do remember later telling him how mean he was for making me get up and go biking.  In his defense, he told me about a hundred times that I didn't have to go with him.  I'm just an ass in the morning.

Anyway, to get back at him for having this morning/evening rotation going, I made him watch some Toddlers & Tiaras today.  Here's what his face looked like for the approximately 6 minutes he was able to watch:

The blend of amusement, interest, and repulsion was quite entertaining.  Right after this he had to go upstairs because he said he couldn't watch it anymore.

I also finally took a couple of close-ups of my new bike!

 Here it is!  Isn't it pretty?

This is the chain stay (back wheel).  I love the font they used with the red on black.  Makes it look faster, right?

There are my new water bottle cages that I just installed before our ride this evening.  They are a little easier to maneuver the bottles in and out of, and they are a little bit lighter...but the biggest selling point for me was that they matched the bike so well.  Which is a terrible reason, but I don't mind too much.

We've also had more beautiful evening weather.  It was in the 80s when we rode tonight, but amazingly I didn't break into much of a sweat during the 11 miles.  Not to say that coming back into the apartment with air conditioning and a cool shower didn't feel heavenly :)

Here's what happens when I download Instagram: artsy shot of our cycling gear drying in the sunset.

Tomorrow is another longer ride, but not as big as yesterday's adventure.  Our planned route is one Bern is familiar with but which I've never done.  The scenery is supposed to be beautiful and there is what he describes as "just a 10-minute climb.  It's not so bad."  Wish me luck, people.

As far as our progress in the Mapmyride.com challenge goes...I am still not sure we are going to make it to the goal of 544 miles by the end of the challenge, but I know we will finish within a few days if we don't and I've been very impressed with our progress this week.  So far, my greatest-mileage week came in at 125 miles over 7 days.  I've ridden about 105 in the last four and will most certainly break my record tomorrow.  Whether or not I finish the challenge, I am amazed at how far I've been able to push myself and what I've been able to accomplish, mentally and physically.

Here's my progress so far:

Miles since 6/30/2012: 214.46

Miles to Complete By 7/22/2012: 329.54

Days Left in Challenge:  11