Nothing draining like cold, wet

One time, back in August, I described myself lying on the floor, after races, "throttled from the effort," moaning. A friend commented that it was hard for her to imagine me in such a state.

Well, it's been quite a while since I've done any kind of effort that required that level of recovery. It's been three months, to be exact, since Fall Bear, a race that remains my biggest regret of the season. Today, with winter training now underway, I revisited that special kind of exhaustion.

I'm in Brooklyn, by the way, tempted down here by the promise of latkes, and also by a desire to help my Dad celebrate his birthday on Monday. Also tempting was the desire to ride in warmer-than-Saratoga temperatures. I set off this morning to ride with fellow BVF alum Brian B. We headed up to the GWB, and then through Englewood and Tenafly, hoping to meet up with the Rocket Ride, out of Nyack.

Although rain was on the radar, it wasn't forecast until the afternoon, so I thought we'd have time to ride, and then make it home ahead of the weather. Brian, I suppose, came to the same conclusion. However, it wasn't to be.

After somehow missing the ride, we found ourselves in Piermont, with a little rain started to fall. We refueled with a quick muffin, and turned and burned for home. It started raining in earnest shortly after we hit 9W, and I was thoroughly soaked by the time we got to the GWB. Then it was an *interesting* ride down through Manhattan and home.

We rode pretty hard, so I felt fairly warm for a while, but it was the wet that really drained me. When I finally got home, I warmed up in the shower, ate some eggs, and then spent the afternoon drifting in and out of consciousness on the couch. I may have moaned a bit as well. Somewhere in there I managed to do some laundry, and to make it over to Harvey and Jackie's for the annual Hanukkah party, but more on that tomorrow.

In all, Briand and I rode for about four hours, two of which were in the rain. I think I'll sleep well tonight.