Thursday I was able to get a 34 mile ride in with the Reston Bike Club. Saturday I was able to knock out 57 miles without any problems. Sunday I managed 74 miles, somewhere around 50 miles in my back and hands started hurting. I was running late and pushed the last 23 miles really hard, by the time I was 8 miles from home, I could feel myself slowing down and there wasn't much I could do about. I was eating and drinking fine. I popped some ENDUROLYTES for salt and some ANTI-FATIGUE CAPLETS to buffer the lactic acid in my legs. It is literally amazing how well the ANTI-FATIGUE CAPLETS work.

With just 4 miles to go, I felt like I was crawling along and my mind was screaming at me to call the wife for a SAG. I played that game where I tell myself to just go another 1/2 mile and then I'll get off and rest, but I keep riding along.

About a mile from home, the W&OD drops down ever so slightly to Crestview and all I could do was coast down hill. Crestview has an ever so slight uphill grade to get to Builders, but has traffic that seriously exceeds the speed limit, so I had to give it all I had (which wasn't much at that point) to get to the light. I made the turn onto Builders and then coasted down to the stop sign. A brief turn of the pedal got me over the hump in front of the school, then it was downhill to the house.

What was the first thing I reached for to recover from such a brutal ride? A devil dog. I downed the Devil Dog, filled my water bottle, and then took a quick shower. I pulled out the mountain bike and soft pedaled up to the Hiddenbrook pool for a friend's going away party.