Some improvement

One good thing did come out of Saturday (and it wasn't the July Fourth fireworks, which were almost entirely obscured by the smoke that was blown our way from the explosions); we had friends over, and I arranged a bike ride for Sunday with a couple of them.  One of whom was hopefully going to be able to keep up with me.

We did a big loop, taking the Capital Crescent trail up into Bethesday and coming back on Beach Dr.  And I added a bit over ten miles getting to/from the meet-up spot in Georgetown.

It was actually an easy ride, for the most part.  Two friends were with me, the slower of whom started a couple of sprints which did not go well for him.  And the other, and I, did push a bit for a mile or two around the beginning of Beach Dr.

Regardless of how hard we were (or weren't) pushing, it was a very nice, peaceful ride that went through a number of areas that you'd never guess would exist within DC.  Still no heart rate info, but I was amused to have the power data, as I was able to send it along to the friend who felt like starting the sprints.

The one bad thing is that my light fell off going down Beach Dr, and I didn't realize what had fallen until over an hour later.  So I need to replace my front light; extremely annoying.

Still, we had a good time; glad we got the chance to do it.

Monday, I wasn't able to get out in the morning, though some good did come out of that, as my heart rate meter was found (just after I'd ordered a replacement via Amazon, and was finally going to get to experience same-day delivery.  Was almost disappointed to cancel that order).

I finally got out in the early afternoon, and was working on doing my normal eighteen-mile loop when it started drizzling.  The skies looked threatening, and I hadn't taken ANY precautions (usually I at least put my phone in something waterproof, but I hadn't even done that), so I picked up the pace (a lot) and headed home.

Since it was convenient, I decided to try to break my record from the East Falls Church Metro station up to Williamsburg & Yorktown Blvd.  Despite losing 5-10 seconds to a traffic light, that worked out pretty well, as I was able to improve on my previous best by nearly a minute.  That moved my placement up from 32nd to 3rd, which was quite cool.  I'm mostly amused by the difference in time, because I used to push hard there regularly, but this is the first time I have in over six months.

In any event, from there, I kept hurrying home, just to get home, as the rain was picking up as I was going.  I made it home before it got too bad, and it was a good thing I cut the ride short, because it became a serious downpour within a minute of my arrival at home.  Very glad I wasn't caught out in that.  And things worked out ok, as my phone was fully function when I arrived, and my shoes were only a little wet.

Unfortunately, going hard for the last five minutes or so hoses my numbers for the ride, so analysis is kind of tough.  If I had thought about it, I could have set a lap when I started pushing, but it didn't occur to me until well after.  Next time, I suppose.