Twas the Night Before.....the night before

So, it seems Lightscribe might not be the most robust technology. It is great tho. I ended up buying another burner, that I've yet to install. Bought it locally so I could swap it locally in the short term should anything happen. Since I threw away my packaging, I can't return the new one. I still want to play with it a little more before I pull it out. I just so want it to be some driver issue, but I really think the deck isn't recognizing the lightscribe info on the media.

I'm teleslacking tomorrow. I do need to get some work done, but its easy for me to work from home, especially on a holiday week when there won't be so many folks around anyway. I can send out some emails I need to knock out. I just need to find something for the kid to do. Maybe I can bus in a friend.

Now, the ride report. I said that Thursday I did the muscle building bike routine, and sure enough on Saturday my thighs still hurt. It was looking like a spin day. Yet another chilly morning. I wasn't as cold this week, partially due to my new shoe covers I'm sure. I was a tad late getting there, which I hate. I'm, uh, slow getting ready to ride. I carry all my tools, a stand, pump, etc, everything. I really like taking my time getting ready, but it isn't always possible. Oh well, my neurosis can live to rear its head another day.

As soon as I got on the bike I could tell my legs hurt. Thankfully, spinning out of the parking lot warmed them up some and it was ok. It seems like its hard to ride fast in the cold anyway. Can't half breathe, snot running, etc. Its worth it tho. So we chugged on up to Ashland (after telling some guy that we'd never keep up with him) and had a nice ride. While a part of me misses humping the whole trip, its nice to do a regular pace. And, as I discovered on the ride back, my regular pace was about all I had. I decided to try and sprint some on the flat road and Richard took off with me. We were even the whole way and then my legs had just had it. That was all she wrote. Man, that sucked, I hate when I can't pass Richard. I think we're darn close in ability, which makes it fun.

A quick aside...I was in the back of the pack at the beginning of the ride. It is somewhat humerous to watch Richard and Diane as their styles are completely different. Diane rides in more of what I guess is a triathalon style. (I guess because A: I wouldn't really know, and B: the other Tri-Girls ride the same way). Basically they seem to get up into the big chainring, lean over onto that couch they call handlebars, and just push in a pretty even stroke and cadence. In contrast Richard stays in the middle chainring and spins like no tomorrow. Me? I'm not there yet. I spent last year spinning like Richard. Previously I hadn't had the fitness to do this. So, I worked on it and was pleased. Now I feel like I need more strength, so I'd like to push a bigger gear. We'll see.

So, we finished and were hanging in the parking lot talking. At some point Richard turns to me and says, "hey, I'm going to do a time trial up Wintergreen mountain. Wanna go?" My first response was pretty typical for me, "that's a pretty big hill, Richard". Then I said sure. What the heck has gotten in to me? First I say I'm going to do a century, now climb a mountain? Soon I'm going to have to alter my page like all my friends with the events I'm going to do. Meh. Natural progression I guess.

So Richard, when is that Blue Ridge Parkway ride?