Stage 3 - Ain't That America

I love the Fourth of July. Parades, fireworks and barbecues. But when you try to do all of those things on one day it creates a challenge to find the time to ride 68 miles.

Getting up early is not one of my favorite things. Getting up early to put in hard miles is even further down the list. There is only one person who can make me get up early to do it - The Boss. Barry called last night and told me when and where to meet him out on the road. I said, "Yes, Boss", set the alarm and went to bed.

The miles are starting to have an effect on my legs and on my sleeping pattern. The legs are stiff and tired, sleep comes with great difficultly and in fits.

The wind was blowing and even though I would have preferred to ride easy Barry kept me honest by keeping the pace up. In spite of the strain I was under it was a great ride. Just being with someone else made the miles go by much faster. And as usual, The Boss provided a tip that I can use; when riding downhill or with the wind pop into a very high gear to lower the rate that your legs are going around in circles. You can maintain your speed and yet lower your heart rate. Saving just a bit of energy. I ride with a fairly high cadence (in fact, I'm such a spinner that I should get a job in Washington), so this was a good tip for me. That Barry, he never ceases to amaze me.

After the ride I was really whipped. To make things worse, I had to quickly shower and get to the parade and that didn't allow for my usual post race re-hydration regimen which consists of two 16 ounce bottles of water and two 12 ounce glasses of a sports recovery drink (I use Endurox). Three hours later I had a dehydration head-ache and felt like crap. As I sat on the couch pounding fluids and watching the Tour I heard Paul Sherwen say something that made me feel a little better. He mentioned that the third and fourth days of extreme exercise were the worst. Your body is still fighting what you are doing to it. After the fourth day your body usually makes the necessary adjustments and deals with the extra workload. I hope that he's right because I'm really not feeling very good. Tired, irritable and lethargic.

What a great intersection to pass on America's 230th birthday!

Here's a funny Tour related note; As you may know, Tour favorite Jan Ullrich was kicked out of the Tour for doping. This is from the NY Times, "In Belgium (where the Tour route was today), two fans carried signs calling on the public to support Ullrich by boycotting the Tour, a campaign somewhat undermined by the protesters' own presence at the side of the road."

I took some pictures at the parade and turned them into a slideshow with music for your enjoyment. Click HERE to watch the show which sums up how I feel about this great country of ours.

Today's mileage goal; 66.96 Miles ridden; 68