Lunch Time Ride

I was able to get back on the bike today. It's been over a week and it was nice. Last week my back was bothering me too much to ride. Sunday I felt good and was going to ride after church, but my wife tore some muscles in her back and you can't argue with a woman on all fours crying and in pain, so no ride for me. I worked while I ate today so I can spend my lunch hour on the bike. At 1:45 I rolled out of the back door of my office with the 15 mile route that takes me down the Canadian Mist Highway, so named for the thousands of CM bottles that litter the road. As I rolled out of the parking lot the twinge in my lower back made me think better of the route and I opted to do laps around the local university. It was hotter than I expected. I made it to the university's parking lot at the main entrance and waved at a campus cop. There was something going on at the amphitheater and he was just making sure everything was going smoothly. I turned down the one way street lined with parking watching for breaklights. I passed the new(relatively speaking)science building, then Old Main (the historical part of the University), and out in front of the main road. At the all way stop I practiced my trackstand on the Deathtrap(named by a guy at the LBS after he took it for a spin), looked both ways, and printed up the hill. As I reached the top I could smell the onion rings from The Dixie(best burger joint in town) and wondered why onion rings always smell better that they taste. As I ran out of steam I turn onto Janeway and stamp on the pedals. This road will work on your bike handling skills, the dips and bulges in the pavement are sometimes hard to see in the filtered light of old oaks. You also have to keep an eye on the cars parked on the side of the rode as you never know when a moment of inattention leaves you doing an endo over an opened car door. Near the end of Janeway I turn right on Gracemont and start to climb to the end. I pass my former boss' former home and shake my head at the USC flag out front. A month ago it was a Clemson flag. At the end of Gracemont there is a steep little climb with a stop sign at the top, another chance to practice my trackstand and I turn left down the hill. I climb up the other side and turn into the main entrance, it even has a bike lane, all 300 feet of it. I turn left and then left again into the parking lot to do it all again. In the end I get 12.78 miles in at 14.4 miles per hour. That's not fast, but this route never lets you hold on to any speed, too many turns. The ride is a psudointerval, all out then recover for a while. When I got back to the office I had work waiting for me, but I got in almost 13 miles, last time I only got 11.5.