As Mark Twain Put it....and the tri gods are trying to tell me something.

As Mark Twain put it , If you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute and it'll change. Today's bitch stomping long ride was cut short and the pool work out never happended. Here's how it went down. After sleeping in until 10am...I know I'm a bum....I decided to head to my little sis's cheerleading competition..otherwise known as a football game. After showing up late...I went to my Grandfather's to stock up on drinking water..( small note about my town 90% of the population myself included have well water. My parent's house is on a a former swamp and the water is high in iron. My grandfather's ( formerly my uncle jerry's place..rest in pieces uncle jer.) is on a spring needless to say his water tastes good and ours is between slightly rusty and brown slugde.) When I got home after seeking water....I decided to scratch the pool work and just go for the ride. I got out to Lake Waramaug and conditions were good, sunny, some gathering clouds, hot and humid as hell. I got on the Bitch Stomper and began to ride the Half Iron Course. I got to Angevine rd. and saw the familar gravel on road warning signs and slowled to a grandmaesque 5mph. I wanted to shoot myself due to my low speed and the fact that I had to dismount for two major climbs ( because I didn't want to push the speed and find myself axel deep in gravel.) Also I crawled down two kick ass decents for fear of loose stones on road. Needless to say when I got to the end of this section and found most of the worry spots had been well swept I was a pissed off mofo that I had taken them like a grandma. I turned onto to Route 45 hearing rumbles of thunder and slight to moderate rain. I had just gotten out of the center of Warren and had passed a little graveyard when my hopes for a long ride were as dead as Warren's founding fathers. As I headed out toward Cornwall and got to the bottom of a slight descent, I looked at the climb ahead of me. I heard a loud thunder clap and noticed a rather large lightning bolt crashing to earth about a mile away. I immediately turned around and high tailed it for the lake, not wanting to join the souls that had been at rest in that little church yard since the late 1800's. i managed to get in a loop of the lake before the storm caught up with me. All in all I got in 30 miles and had yet another attempt to learn the course thwarted. I honestly think the tri gods are telling me I'm not supposed to know this race course...that I am fated to wander it like a blind kid in a china shop, not knowing what can screw me up. Well any hoo. I got back to the lake. I jumped in to rinse all the salt, sweat and shit off. And I managed to change and get back to my car as the storm unleashed full fury. I drove out to Winsted for dinner with dad, and have now been warned by my outback, something is amiss in the engine..yet another expense to be dealt with, needless to say it goes into the shop Monday, as I borrow my sister's car or hopefully a loaner from the dealer. Tomorrow I plan on going to mass, followed by a 50 to 60 mile ride in Middlebury ( on a course I know. Angry holler if you want it, even if it's just for one loop.) and then a work out with the tri club at CCSU. All in all I'm hopeing for more fruit for my labors. If anyone has managed to get in a loop of the Nutmeg State Half Iron Course concider yourself blessed.
R.D.