It’s really good to have friends – day 2 on the bike tour

Ideally I would have started today’s ride at 9, but 10 at the latest. I was able to get myself out of bed at 7:30, so I had a shot to start earlyish. I stayed up at my friend Allen’s place playing some bizarre video games until 11pm the night before. Probably should have gone to bed earlier, but when is the next time I will be able to play video games with a friend?

I’m glad I slept in because around 8:00, following some rumbling in the distance, there was a monster downpour of rain. That would have set a great tone for the day. I made Allen and Apple (his wife) breakfast after we complained about work for a bit (he was teleworking and we work at the same place). He has chickens so I fried up half a dozen eggs and toast. Everything came out very plain (foreign kitchen and I couldn’t find the cheese).

Oh by the way I did go for a bike ride! I left just before 10, heading for the bridge. I loaded everything from my rear rack into Allen’s car before I left, as I would be meeting him again shortly. A little weight relief.
I also put a rolled up piece of duct tape between the bent part of the rack and the seat stay. It would be interesting if the bike makes it 3000 miles like this. Any bets?

It was a little slow crossing route 301 and 50, but I made it to the bay in about an hour. I then called Allen one more time to provide the ride over the Chesapeake Bay. It’s really good to have friends, especially when they save you 100 miles riding 😀.

After a few turns through the neighborhoods, and a brief ride on the Baltimore & Annapolis (B&A) trail, I got onto route 450 where I spent the majority of my day. It’s much more bike friendly than I thought.

I finally saw another cyclist. Right after going by the Annapolis Mall, a guy on a road bike zipped by me. I was going maybe 10mph up a small hill. This made me think I need to take the opportunity tonight to shed some weight off my bike. I’m hauling about 50 pounds.

After a brief detour due to a road closure, I continued on 450 for another 20 miles or so and turned toward Lanham. With a few miles to go, another road cyclist zipped by me. He then slowed down to ask where I was going. His name was Mark and he saw me turning onto Good Luck road as he was leaving for an afternoon ride. I hope I got his name right. I was tired and thirsty. I drank almost 5 liters of water today. Mark kept a good pace for me. I was dragging before he passed me, knowing that I was almost done for the day. We split off on my last mile as he headed toward Lake Artemesia. I arrived at my workplace to have the girlfriend chauffeur me to her house for the night. Amazing how after only two days of riding I still find myself at work.

I believe the noise I was hearing yesterday was coming from the string I used to tie the rear fender. The string was rubbing the spokes occasionally. The front “fender” starting falling off after an hour today. At the end of the day I decided to abandon my redneck fenders altogether after the rear one was hanging on by a thread.

I’m on the way home now. It’s pizza night again. I was definitely in a calorie deficit for the last 2 days, pizza will hit the spot. Tonight will be my last night of luxury for a while. I am appreciating beds more and more.

Two goals for this evening:
1) I want to lose ten pounds
2) pick up high-calorie food