I think I'm getting there. Feeling very good on the bike lately on the fast group rides like Nyack. Solo'd off the front today on the Park Ridge ride, got an OK gap for 3 miles or so, then one of the faster 40+ vets, Sandy (the local Zipp rep) bridged up to me, couldn't quite hold his wheel and we got reeled in a mile later (I think if he had eased up enough for me to grab his wheel and recover for a minute we might have worked together and held it out until the end). Then in the last mile I'm on Sandy's wheel again. I turn around and we have a gap (I thought the whole pack was right there). But I couldn't hold it again, he actually did stay away (in front of the sprint by 500 meters at end), they caught me in the last 200 meters and dropped me like a boat anchor. But lots of time at the front or even off the front, and even when utterly gassed my recovery was pretty good.

How this will translate into my ability to hang with the 35+ boys in NY City on March 2 remains to be seen, but I'm feeling leaner, meaner and fitter than this time last year. My knee seems to have responded to the first Synvisc injection too (series of three, artificial knee fluid for arthritic knees like mine) and that's feeling much better too. Hope to be strong enough to work for the leaders on my team, maybe do some chasing, blocking or leading out. That's if I don't get killed in a crash or utterly shelled of course.

We're all peloton dogs. And every dog has his day. Who knows? Maybe Pcad jumps on the right wheel, gets in a 4 man break, the peloton gets hit by lightning and I get a place.

Woof.