42 miles, 2800 feet on a spectacular day today. It was terribly rainy Saturday and I'd expected it to continue, so I wasn't really prepared to ride much, if at all. Yesterday I changed the tires on the bike I'm taking on the trip next week and tore my hands up trying to do it without tools (I'd done it before!). Then finished cleaning it up before packing it in its case, so that was one bike that I wouldn't be riding. Took my time deciding whether to go for muddy trails on the cross bike or just taking the race bike out for a local hilly spin, maybe some intervals. Eventually got my act together and got out around 10:30.

It was a bit chilly to start, but sunny and crisp. Had a bit of fun with repeats of Alpine hill and saw a friend who was leading a group of high school kids there. Hung out at the Market for a while, then shortly after leaving ran into a group of five riding mates on their way back from Pie Lady. We had a bit of "hammer time" back to Fort Lee, unable to decide whether we wanted to cooperate on a speedy pace line or just keep trying to drop each other. Had a nice refreshment stop and paid the bill after it started to cloud over and just as it was starting to sprinkle. Got back home and it was all sunny again. Absolutely gorgeous day.