5/15/97
Man, today was very painful. It's still painful as I write this.
I turned in my outline today. I'm glad I had it done the day before, the other students that had to turn it in looked dead in class today.
I once again rode out to Seward Park. One of the more friendlier regulars was chatting with someone in a car, and he acknowledged me as I passed. Later on, he caught up with me and we rode to the park together. He's a pretty funny guy. I later learned that his name is Mike. There seems to be a correlation with bicycling and being named Mike.
At the park, I met Alan. And to illustrate my point about Mikes, another one showed up. One of the postdocs in a lab I did a rotation in showed up. His name is Mike Farrar. I had heard that he used to race. He said he was really into it when he was a graduate student. There goes my excuse that I can't compete at a higher level with my being a graduate student.
I guess I was feeling pretty good, because for a few seconds, I was at the front of the pack. That changed quite quickly as we headed up the hill. I was with the pack for a good 3 or 4 laps I think, before I got dropped off the back, as usual. I didn't get lapped until about half way through the race, which is a good sign, I think. I was thinking that I could maybe finish the race without getting lapped twice, but that didn't happen.
Mike Farrar was doing his first race this season, so after lapping me once with the field, he helped me out by trading pulls with me.
All in all, today was a good experience, except for the fact that on the last lap and the last hill, my right leg cramped quite badly. I don't think I've ever had such a nasty cramp. I almost fell off my bike. It eventually went away, but when I was getting more water for the ride home, and was trying to get on my bike, my left leg cramped up just as badly. And when I was getting ready to ride back from the race, my left leg cramped up again. That was really painful, and it's still kind of painful right now.
Alan wanted to catch as much of the Sonics playoff game, so he took off, but me and Mike cruised back to the University.