One week to go. I asked a few of my teammates about the route, and they said it was hilly, but doable. Someone said it was rumored to be similar to last year's: about twelve short hills that were at least 10% grade, four were 14% grade… none that were particularly long.

Hmm. I'm not panicking, but I'm not thrilled at the prospect of such steep grades. Stick me on a 4 mile, 4% grade, and I'll spin all day. 10% grade and up means I have to stand up and pedal, which I supremely suck at…

Anyway. Wednesday's ride was good — I had only ridden 22 or so miles on Monday (did a slight variation of my "$1.5 million dollar view" ride) but basically ran out of daylight, hence the short(er) distance. Overall it was a nice ride, though the wind was pretty variable… it seemed to be shifting direction a lot, the worst of which I experienced while on the Fairfax County Parkway - full blown headwind. Always a good time.

As always, route is shown below. I had 28.something on my cyclometer, which is a little disconcerting as this is one of the few rides I haven't gotten lost on and thus have no explanation for the extra mileage.