ben in the zone.

I have ben privileged to know several world-class professional cyclists. When they are having a good day, they talk about riding in the ZONE. I may have had fleeting glimpses of "the zone", maybe once, but more often than not, I find myself riding more like a BOZO than my more athletically inclined friends. Welcome to the BOZONE!
It has ben a while since I have ben able to do a road ride without any time constraints. So yesterday morning I did about 20 minutes of yoga to loosen up, made a kick ass fruit smoothy for breakfast, and then headed out the door with no real plan other than about a fifty mile bike ride.

At 9 o'clock it was already hot. Sarah and I rode out of Annapolis and headed out St. Maragarets Road and ended up in Arnold on the B&A Trail, a paved Rails to Trails path that runs up to, and then around BWI Airport.

Sarah and the B& A Trail

We stopped several times to refill water bottles, but about 20 miles into it, the heat was getting to Sarah and she turned around and headed home. I continued North towards BWI. I made it to the airport overlook and cooled down with a sno cone. It was hot, so I opted not to ride the loop around the airport and began my trip back towards Annapolis.


I hadn't gone more than a mile from the overlook when my chain started skipping. I was fiddling with the derailleur adjustment when the chain completely jammed. Upon close inspection, I discovered that I had separated a link in my chain.



I'm about 24 miles from home and have a broken bike. Great! Hot just got Hotter. No problem, I have money in my seat bag, I will find a phone and call Sarah. Did you know that pay phones are extinct?


Welcome to the BOZONE!

I pushed and scootered my bike sereral miles before I finally came across someone with a chain tool. A quick fix and I was back on my way. However, by now I had completely lost what ever groove I might have had, and it wasn't going to come back. Did I mention HOT? With about seven miles to go, I found a 7-11 with a pay phone and got in touch with Sarah and let her know where I was. I slammed a 32 oz Gatorade and then continued to drag my butt towards home.

Deep in the BOZONE.

The City Dock in Annapolis is less than a mile from home. I was suffering like a big dog and had to stop for another break. I was treated to a little live music while I tried to hide under the shade of a tree and cool off.

Local Musician: Melody Page

48 point something miles and almost 5 hours after I started, I made it back to the house.

Even deeper!

It took a cold shower and a 2 hour nap in front of the AC, before I could move again. I' m pretty sure Sarah stuffed some pizza in me while I was crashed. I did manage to rally and we had a great sunset sail on the bay before turning in for the night.

Anybody want to go for a ride next Sunday?