Pavlov's Dog

...is what I've become over the last couple of months.  I've ridden nearly the same route for way too long, and had picked up some bad habits.  I've known this for awhile and have tried to break the routine, but until this morning hadn't really made the necessary changes.  I had only gone about two miles from home when I saw a golf ball (groan) which I just had to pick up.  I looked up and saw Bruce and Alex coming my way and I joined them.  They were going to do hill repeats on a couple of local hills.  These are really more in the way of power climbs than real hills, i.e., a maximum of about 4% and maybe a mile long.  They proceeded to pretty much kick my ass, crunching huge gears up these hills.  The game, I realized, was to go as hard as you can for as long as you can until you crack.  Once I figured that out (on the third one, I'm slow that way sometimes), I was OK with it.  It also made it painfully clear that my habitual ride had to go because it had become a detriment to getting back into racing form.

Weather stats for the last 14 days:
Number of rides below 40 F (4.4 C): 12
Number of rides below 32 F (0 C): 8

Number of days until the Calville Bay Classic Stage Race: 43
Woof!  Drool, drewel!