The Chesapeake Crit is this Saturday! This is where my first taste of racing happened last year. Did I get lapped 3 times or 4? Ahh yes, seems like only yesterday. Funny how the pain and suffering fades with time.

Speaking of pain and suffering, Rick "the dear whisperer" Young has been flogging me regularly on Tuesdays. To ride with him and others in a group is not too bad, recovery can be found in the back. To ride with just him leaves you with nowhere to hide. Work hard to stay in the draft doing 27+mph, then try and pull. Greg "the night owl" Everson was my proverbial carrot, but his work schedule keeps him from riding on weeknights. He still finds time for us mere mortals on weekends.
Sunday was a fun 60 miler. Rick, Greg, "dancing" Joe and I, meet up at Fat Frogs in Chesapeake. Several rides leave at 7:30, including a A+ group. However the ride is only 21 miles. A healthy group of 15 or so guys pulled out and we were rolling along at 26-28mph. We had decided to make this a longer ride, and soon we split off and headed for the Pungo Ferry Bridge. After climbing the bridge and back over again, we headed down Blackwater Rd. into Carolina. As we suck Ricks wheel down a thin ribbon of asphalt that splits fields of Soybeans, my peripheral vision picks up a brown dot floating on a sea of green. In the distance ahead screams the over sized mud tires of a rednecks truck, coming our way at a rapid clip. I soon realise the "brown dot" is a dear running on a collision coarse with the truck and us all meeting at the same time! The dear jumps out in front of the redneck, we slam on the brakes, and the redneck smiles. I don't know how we all missed each other. The dear runs off, we continue on our way, and the redneck never even flinched. The rest of the ride was uneventful in comparison.
Back home safely again, the lawn mower is calling. Knowing that my priorities are in order, I can now cut the grass. See you at the Chesapeake Crit!