I thought it was sort of funny but didn't realize how prophetic it was to be. Dale met me around just after 8AM and we readied the steeds for the ride. It was already well over 80 degrees and was forecast to be mid 90's w/a heat index near 110. No big deal just fill a few bottles. I figured I'd be fresh after having a day off the bike yesterday. We rode Marl Ravine, cleared some deadfall along the way then did Laurel Glen which is now totally open after being closed for a great while. Got wrong geared on the last climb out, which I'd never done from that direction before so I pushed up.

Then we went over to Freedom Park which is only a 15-20 minutes away. I hadn't ridden there in 3 months or so and was looking forward to it. Somewhere toward the last third of the ride I went to pieces, legs had ZERO energy, and HR got all jacked up with minimum effort. Dale reminded me that I hadn't had much to drink on the first ride, he was right. I went to take a drink from my water bottle and saw it was gone, probably punted it on some drop earlier. Shite man, this is a nice trail but not THAT hard and it was kickin' my butt. Forget about peddling circles, even squares, I was having trouble with triangles. My legs were just GONE. Then I looked down at my left leg, had a strange moment of deja vu, and I swear I saw tattooed on it :

I looked down at my right leg and the same dam thing :

I gutted it out, made it back on two dead legs, but was a whipped dog, after barely 15 miles.

Dale looked a whole lot more spry after the ride than I felt ----- >

With some group road rides and a MTB preride tomorrow, I'll have to renegotiate the contract with my legs to see if I can get 'em working again.

RideOn

JB: