second ride, equipment update

So, we finished up our second ride yesterday. It is a lot of fun riding with my team mates. They're a diverse group, so conversation is never slow, and neither is the pace!
We met up on the outskirts of Houston- the drive was kind of long, but there were fewer cars, so it's worth the trade off. The nice thing about it was that one of the coaches mentioned it was the furthest out that we would ride, so I know I won't be late to any of the other rides (not that I was late to this one...)
The ride ended with a visit to another tex-mex restaurant, and some more conversation/fraternizing. I hope I can sit with everyone at one point or another, because I really like the 'team' aspect of Team in Training.

After the ride, I got home, ate some shredded wheat (the hippy in me loves the fact that it's seriously just whole grain wheat, (and preservatives... ew!)), and started cleaning my bike. Cleaning my bike is one of my favorite activities. It's really relaxing, almost zen-like. I guess I feel that way about cleaning in general, even though I hardly ever do it!

After thinking about it for a while, I threw on some clothes, and went off to REI to grab some gear. 20 minutes and $60 later, I was home with a small pack for under my seat, a smaller (CO2 powered) pump (which is really just a valve for the cartridge that has threads for my tire valve), 2 water bottles, and 2 water bottle cages.
It's nice to have a SAG vehicle; now I don't have to worry about running out of water (which is the only reason I carry a 3L CamelBak). So, now my back won't get as sweaty and gross, AND I get to show off my sweet TNT jersey!
What's great about the pack I got is that I can still cram in everything I had in my CamelBak- cable, knife, (a new, smaller) pump, tire tube, tire lever-thingies. It's a tight fit, so I might end up getting a larger one somewhere down the road, but for now, I'm dandy!


TNT trains to finish the Century ride, which is great because I could use the endurance work! But I also want to build some speed. I know I won't be competitively fast, but I like going fast, and plan on riding at a 'race' pace. So this week, I'll probably get some interval work (hurray) in on the treadmill (ew), and maybe an over distance day Wednesday.