3/29/08, Ride Data: 39.6 km, 712 m gained/lost (Extreme temp, whole ride)

The weather in Burlington, VT warmed up just enough to permit a fun qualifying ride on two brisk sunny days. Day one temperature was a chilly -3 C with variable headwinds. I began the ride at my house on East Ave. and headed south to climb the steep hill on Spear St., arriving at the Stonehedge community (out/back on East-Spear: 9.6 km, 130 m gained/lost). I rode 23 laps around the Stonehedge circle, and met some interesting pedestrians and dogs on the way (per lap: 1.304 km, 25.3 m gained/lost).

Teammate Geoff Elder inspired me to ride this circuit as he had done for his qualifying ride earlier in the winter. Geoff and American Mojo team members Marc Premo and Dawn DiCecco stopped by to offer laughs and moral support during one of my rests. They got quite a kick out of my lunch: controlled food items from an experimental diet that I am eating as part of a research study at U. of Vermont. I'm given 3000 calories of food per day (can't eat anything extra) to keep my weight constant on the assumption that I will be only moderately active during the study. Needless to say, I put out more calories than I ate during the ride and I lost 2.2 kg. (Can I claim calorie restriction as an additional subjective level of difficulty?...kidding) I'll be back to my normal food in less than a week!

Overall it was a beautiful day and the Schlumpf gearing worked perfectly.