Oh what fun it is to ride…

40 mi/3mi Today’s early start was a result of me STILL thinking the change in time from October was paying dividends. Clearly a quick check to the weather app would show me that sunrise is now at 6:58, so my planned 6:30 departure was going to be in the dark. I am glad Lanae doesn’t fear riding in the dark. We went at a relaxed pace, the bridges were wet (More on that later) and roads had some puddles once on Jupiter Island. We rode to Graham park, where I took the dockside picture. I forgot my water bottle laden with Carbo Pro – I really don’t need it once I return to the car and finish up. I couldn’t make sense of the groups today, I didn’t see the usual people heading north while we rode south. I thought maybe they passed while we ate Clif bars at the restroom. We rode back and upon finishing the long stretch along the Jupiter Island condos, we saw cars backed up around the bend. We picked up Michael and a friend of his and slowly made our way up the bridge. The gates were closed, but the bridge was down – an ambulance and two police cars on the metal drawbridge. We rode up past the gates and saw a large rider in an Ohio State jersey down on the median receiving help. The police officer closest to Lanae said he fell on the wet steel and the metal shaved off a piece of his knee “like a cheese grater.” Ugh. And the piece of knee? Like the guy’s finger from a few months ago, it went into the intracoastal as fish food.I think this affected Lanae, as on the ride back she said the training for IM Switzerland would probably be the only one she ever does – largely due to the dangers of cycling training. We came back to Loggerehead Park, made a quickie transition and ran like hell to the duck pond and back. Last time, Lanae asked me to “pick it up a little, we’re going too slow” at Kamen (Green) park. This time, I was not going to let my pace relax. I tend to do that when I’m alone, but she definitely keeps me honest AND still has me do the talking! The Endomondo app told the tale – 7:25 first mile, 7:05 middle mile, 6:44 last mile. That’s the push and pace I need to have in my system! Thanks for the great workout to Lanae, I would not be as focused if she wasn’t taking it more seriously than I!