The Tortoise and the Hare

So, as noted in yesterday's post, I went out this morning for a long ride with The Compass on a typically hot and sticky central NC morning.   In retrospect, taking on a 70 plus mile ride after a relatively inactive couple of weeks might not have been the smartest idea!

We left from the White Oak entrance to the American Tobacco Trail at 06:30 and after about ten miles saw a rabbit on the side of the road and a turtle crossing in the same place.  This immediately brought to mind Aesop's fable "the turtle and the hare".  Unfortunately for me, today The Compass was both Turtle and Hare and showed both endurance and speed while I languished in her wake!



I could certainly feel that I haven't been on the bike for a few weeks!   I managed to just about keep up on flat sections and the steeper gradients, but as soon as there was a long steady uphill stretch The Compass dropped me like a bad first date!   That's what I deserved, I guess, for posting her finish line picture yesterday - I'm pretty sure that she was enjoying herself!  :-)

To make matters worse, The Compass managed to navigate the entire route without a cue sheet (well, almost!) thereby eliminating any small victory I might have been able to claim if she got us lost!   Now I just have to hope that my performance was, at least in part, due to my short lay off and the long days working in Boston this week and not some terrible power outage.

Awesome riding Lindsay - I hope that I didn't slow you down too much!