July 30th, 2007
Booty Washout
So we woke up Saturday morning and checked our gear and most of it was still wet. There were changes of clothes but not much could be done about our shoes still being soaked. Ron and Brad both weren’t feeling too motivated to get back out to the Booty loop. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was disappointed. My bike was on Ron’s car and his was the only way to get my bike to and from Raleigh. So my plans were intertwined with Ron’s intentions. With the skies being overcast and rain looking likely plus our wet equipment and loss of campsite neither of them wanted to head back out. We ended up watching the time trial of the Tour de France to see Contador retain his yellow jersey and Leipheimer put in one hell of a ride. When it was over everyone decided to go grab lunch on the way home. Of course when we got out of Charlotte the clouds cleared up and blue skies followed us home.
When we got back to Raleigh even Ron admitted that it may have been premature to have left and not gone back to continue riding. His reasoning was that we go to the 24 Hours of Booty to put up maximum mileage and test ourselves and if there was no possibility of a lot of miles there wasn’t enough reason to go back. When it got around to unpacking my car the rain finally started and after getting wet again I knew that I wasn’t up for another wet ride. It wasn’t till later I found out that it hadn’t rained in Charlotte all day.
As a penance I rode 33 miles yesterday on the roads around Lake Jordan. Booty showed me that riding the trainer wasn’t as good of a substitute as I thought. I definitely need to spend more time on the road coming up. Also I had forgotten just how much better it is riding on the road versus the trainer.
