Sunshine and 60 with only a light wind at 10:15 a.m.

Yes, I headed out today WANTING to enjoy a nice ride, unlike the last time I was on the bike when I   shouldn't have been.

Bare legs and arms, I was a bit cool at the start, but they say that's how you should feel...that the ride will come to you, especially at this time of day when it's still getting warmer quickly.

I enjoyed seeing the clear, blue sky and the now greening grass. There was a Knave, Dog Walking Lady, Wiener Dog Lady...lots of the regulars (everyone but "The Girls"...haven't seen them yet this season. Anyway, I was enjoying the warmup of a casual ride.

In Root River Parkway on the way in to scope out the Saturday's crit course again, I was passed by a guy on an older Specialized. I say older because once in front of me I think I saw him reach down to some downtube shifters. Nice. He was moving too.

I decided this would be worth doing, so I made sure to grab his wheel. Now, I know that no one likes to find a surprise wheel sucker back there, but he kept looking back as if to see if he had dropped me. He even pointed out which way he was turning....my point being he knew I was back there. Heck, going 21's in his draft with a little tailwind was a piece of cake. I took it. I like cake.

He turned and I went the other way heading to the course, so it didn't last all that long.

As for Saturday's course, I did five laps on it today. Again, for those of you racing, that turn that goes right after the steep little hill is still filled with potholes on the left side. Stay right in that turn!

On the way back it was quite a nice effort despite having a little more headwind now. It was just one of those days when I had good legs. You just know it. So the pace was zesty indeed, and I enjoyed pushing it a bit.

Positive taste in my mouth after this one.