bum legs

Took care of an almost 30-miler this afternoon on the Quickbeam, doing the Algonquin/Riverwalk Loop. After the Sunday death march (write-up found here), I wanted an easy spin, and mostly i got one until the Riverwalk. As I stopped to fiddle with the iPod, a group of 3 gentlemen came roaring by, all of them on "non-standard" bikes. I do admit to raising the pace ever slightly to see if I could catch up, and to one I did. I saw him in the distance and worked to reel him in. On one of the last open sections before the Belvedere I passed on the left, but it only took about 20sec and he was back through. Mind you, he was pushing the largest gear his bike had and I was doing it "hamster style" on the QB. Anyway, we sort of shadowed each other through the various routes around the Belle (outoftowners, visualize, but I'm too lazy to describe) and I got slightly ahead by taking a more direct route via the bridges by the Great Lawn. His 2 buddies were there waiting, so they must've done a decent clip.

After that I came up Adams/Spring and passed a group of 6-7 cyclists, and an interesting group it was. The guys in front were standard lycra/carbonbike roadies, the middle 3 looked to be riding hybrids or mtbikes and the woman with them was on a fendered Bianchi. I complemented her bike and moved ahead of them only b/c I thought it would be odd to just join up, although their pace was more my pleasure. From there it ws through the park and up golf course hill. I'm not feeling fresh right now, and haven't since the vacation, or really since the start of vacation. Granted, climbing SS style on the QB is not a great way to build confidence, but after that I was sort of done and mosied home from there. 28 in the bag, a great feel on the QB, but not feeling all that rosy myself. Hope it's not the ticker.