I'd written about how the anxiety is kicking my posterior. It's not all better, by any means, but it seems like it was at least partly caused by a blood-pressure medication I'd started for a few weeks; and when I stopped the medication, the anxiety was much reduced. The Mayo Clinic site says anxiety is a rare side effect, but it certainly seems to have been so for me. I'm now on another medication for which anxiety is a known side effect, but this one isn't as bad, although I think some of the other side effects came into play on today's ride. (Another help for the anxiety came from the support I got from the people on this ride. Rain and other commitments have meant I haven't ridden as much as I'd like, which means I haven't seen my riding friends as much as I'd like. And they listen to me complain and decompensate when I do come along, just as if I had more claim on their time and attention than I do. I cannot express how grateful I am to the people with whom I ride, some regularly, some less so.)
I got to the start later than I usually do, but I still got my usual parking lot pictures. It's become so common that my regulars have started posing for 'em...
... but i like the pictures better when they don't:
Keeping an eye out for weather, off we went. We had mostly rolling hills in the first ten miles, then the beginning of a slow clime that you think will end at the Round Valley Reservoir... but it doesn't; it leads to a descent and a flat, and then a much harder climb to the reservoir.
Due to the humidity, the sweat got into my glasses so bad that I could barely see out of the left eye, so when we got to the boat launch at the reservoir, I repaired to the men's room to clean my glasses. The glasses require a certain amount of disassembly and reassembly, and I was shaking so bad fro the exertion that, by the time I emerged from the can, the rest of the Slugs were champin' at the bit to get going, so I didn't get pictures of the reservoir. So that was unlucky. (The reservoir is much more full than I remember from the last two trips, and lovely.)
Sp off we went to Jerry's Brooklyn in Whitehouse Station... except no, we didn't; yours truly had a flat, which I fixed in reasonably short order... but I lost my frame pump and decided not to go back to get it. So that was unlucky.
I did get some pictures at Jerry's:
After the stop, I noticed that I didn't recover from the climb to the reservoir as much as I'd hoped. It could be not enough riding, or the blood-pressure medication, or both. I was behind much of the way. I did get out in front for a bit, and didn't hear Laura call out a turn (I wasn't THAT far off the front!) and had to push to catch up. It took a lot out of me.
About five miles from the end, Laura had a flat, which, for me, was about the best-timed flat she could have planned; I needed the rest. So that was actually lucky!
Still, by the time we got back to the cars, I needed to sit in the air-conditioning for a while before I felt OK to drive home. I finished the last of my lukewarm water and headed back for shower and laundry.
Tom H is talking about a similarly-demanding ride in Pennsylvania next weekend, and I don't know if I'm up for it. We'll see how the week goes.
Meanwhile, I'm keeping a weather eye out for my ride for tomorrow. What do you think? Should I cancel?
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