Bunnybunnybunny!

This morning, I got up early (well, by my standards, anyway) so I could get my butt in to work by around 7:00. I'm trying to squeeze in some extra hours, since I'm taking a day off tomorrow and have already committed all my vacation time to another trip, and it's going to be insanely hot again later today, so getting a ride in while it was still relatively reasonable out seemed like a good idea.

I had decided last night to take it easy this morning, so I rolled out at a leisurely (well, sort-of) pace, spinning an easy gear. I managed to miss a couple red lights that I normally hit (yeay!). At I approached the stop sign at Southern Parkway, I spotted another cyclist zipping by.

I'm sure you can guess where this is going.

Dogs must chase rabbits. This is some kind of universal law. Likewise, cyclists must chase other cyclists.

My 'rabbit' was moving at a decent clip — not super-fast, but faster than the easy pace I had been riding. I chased him for a good while, losing him at stoplights (he was running them, I wasn't), then catching him again. Only problem with running after a semi-fast rabbit is that it makes you want to ride even faster. I had just shifted onto the big ring and was getting ready to jump when my rabbit turned off.

I rode the rest of the way at a nice, comfortable pace — slower than yesterday by a bit (averaged 16 MPH instead of 16.8 MPH), but it felt surprisingly easy. I suspect this is because I hit fewer stoplights — I tend to sprint when the light turns green, which burns up a lot of energy. Today, because I was 'taking it easy' — and also because I am still somewhat inept with toe clips — I tried to slacken my pace off enough to wait out red lights without actually having to stop. My trackstand isn't good enough to get me through most stoplights if I have to stand the whole time, but it works when I only have to stand for a few seconds (especially when I'm not paying attention to it, oddly enough). So I avoided putting a foot down (the bane of all cyclists everywhere) as much as possible, and wound up saving myself some effort.

Ironically, 'taking it easy' and slackening the pace instead of actually coming to a stop may explain why I got here pretty darn quick, but with a pretty relaxed level of perceived effort. I'm thinking maybe I should 'take it easy' more often.

In other news, I put in my Rogue team kit order today. Soon I'll be prepared to go out and embarass myself rock it like a pro in CX. Okay, 'rock it like a noob' might be a little more accurate, but gosh darnit, you get the point. There's even another guy on the team who is just coming back from an injury (he doesn't get to ride 'til the 28th!) and has also never done 'cross (or any other kind of racing) before, so I won't be all alone in my noob-tasticness. Not that I really mind; my goal is just to get out there, have fun, and get some experience.

This doesn't mean that my competitive side doesn't want to kick the pants off the competition — just that I've learned to rein that part of me in.

Except, of course, when I'm chasing commuter bunnies.