I did get up early this morning, as planned, although a slightly upset stomach kept me from getting moving as quickly as I would have liked. Also, I still haven't really fixed that flat, so I still have a latex inner tube in that tire, which necessitated a fill-up before leaving. Still, I got on the road a few minutes after five, and felt pretty good.
The temperature was mid-high 40s (a couple degrees colder than forecast); I had debated wearing a jacket, and I'm glad I did (just a light windbreaker). That jacket is quite comfortable, as I've previously noted, although the looseness of the fit is starting to bother me (even though it shouldn't). I was never really cold, but I could definitely feel the cold on my hands and lower arms.
That was far from enough to ruin the ride, though; it was very pleasant, and I cranked out twenty miles in 90 minutes. Not great speed, obviously, but then, that wasn't the priority. Heart rate was, and that stayed pleasantly low. In fact, it was almost perfect, as my max was 126.
And there were about 1100' of elevation to go with the mileage, so I'm keeping up with the challenges for the month. I figured out that I'll need to average a bit more than 20 miles per day to finish the MTS challenge; even if I don't keep cranking out that many miles every day, keeping my average high enough should be simple.
In fact, next week I'll probably see about cranking out another 50-80 mile ride, which should make it downright easy. Maybe I'll go out to Purcellville again; that's a nice ride. Or maybe I'll do it piecemeal, as I did last week. Plenty of time to contemplate that.
Regardless of how that ends up working out, tomorrow is the more immediate issue. It'll be warm (60-ish), but probably wet. I'll try to get out early again, maybe try to do 25 miles or so. I'm really looking forward to another 60-ish day without the rain; rain doesn't ruin things, but it certainly doesn't improve them.
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