When things don't go according to plan . . .

. . . sometimes they work out for the best.

Here I was this afternoon, lolling around the house, waiting for our group ride. I'd planned to go out yesterday morning with another friend, but the rain squelched that one. I considered just heading out on my own. Today was a little warmer than it has been, but still mild for late July (it's been an incredible summer, really), so an early afternoon ride would've been fine. Anyway, the group planned to go out at 4. I should've had my antennae up a little higher when one of the e-mails said "I'll text on my way back" into town. But I did check e-mail for further discussion: no word generally means no change. About 3, I noticed my cell phone was dead, so put it on the charger so I'd have it ready in case of an emergency. I took my time getting dressed, ate a sandwich, and packed enough Clif bars and electrolyte tablets for a longer ride. Then I casually pedaled to our meeting point.

Except when I got there, there was no one to meet. Whipping out my phone to check the time, I see a text message that I hadn't gotten while it was on the charger: they went out at 3:30.

Ugh!!

One of those things. I thought, "If I'd wanted to ride by myself, I would've gone out earlier in the day and been almost finished by now!" It wasn't really anybody's fault, though it still left my nose pretty out of joint. At any rate, I really needed both distance and hills. I haven't ridden more than 62 miles this summer, and that ride was 6 weeks ago. And I haven't done much hill training. So the Cheat Mountain Challenge is looking pretty well beyond me if I don't do something about it soon.

I ended up doing about 75 miles, with about 6 good (for around here) hill climbs - short, but with some grade to them. I was limping home with cramps in my right thigh for the last dozen miles, but it was just the prep ride I needed. I found out later that the group only did about 35 miles, which wouldn't have served my needs nearly as well.