A steamy twenty

(View of the Washington monument from Haines Point loop)

There was a brief break in the deluge of rain this afternoon that I was able to take advantage of. I went down to Haines Point to do 4 laps in the super thick humidity...as I was riding a 50 year old (my guess) woman passed me on the left at a good speed. She then slowed down and asked if I could draft for a minute and tell her how fast she was going (her bike was a brand new Cervelo time trial bike and she hadn't installed a computer on yet). I obliged as she proceeded to speed up to a 27 mph pace for almost a mile.

Wow!

She then slowed down a few ticks and I felt that I had to save some face -- I pulled up beside her to comment her on her pace as I tried to hide the fact that I was pretty dang winded.

We rode the next 2 miles together and she told me about a couple group rides that I should participate in around the area. This one that she recommended looks promising...and according to this speedy woman, "they will slow down every 10 miles or so to let the people who get dropped catch up." I assume she recognized that that may likely be me...hahaha. Apparently the ride is hilly though, but according to my brief riding partner today, "hills are the only way to get stronger."

Stats:
20.5 miles
1 hr 15 mins
Avg 16.2
Max 29.3
Odometer 1050