Team ride today. For some reason there were TONS of people. Tons. Loads. Hundreds. Which resulted in the trip up to Highland Park being quite slow. I'm not sure why, exactly.

As I want to build up stamina on longer rides, I "went long." There was a large group that went north from HP and about half turned off at Fort Sheridan --- the shortest extra bit --- and half continued on to do a much longer 30-40 mile loop. I went with them, but turned off at Old School road, which added 26 miles to my ride [for a total of 76]. It was FUN with the big group. We had a tailwind and there were lots of guys to draft off. For a while I was spinning my 50-12 -- my biggest gear -- at 100 rpms. That's about 31-32 mph. NOT downhill. When I turned off, I was wanting to stay with the big group. But I was afraid that when we hit the wind, I'd lose energy and get dropped somewhere with no clue how to get home. Jackie's in Texas with her band, so I couldn't just call and get directions.

So I turned at Old School with 2 teammates and we rode back to Chicago together. If my knee weren't bothering me a bit, it would have been a really great ride. It was pretty day, not too cold, I had good company and I felt pretty strong.

But my knee is bothering me. A bit of tendonitis right below the kneecap. I've started using the roller to loosen my ITBs -- they turn into tight little fists and pull my knees out of alignment slightly. And I iced it. But its still achey. Blarg.

Tomorrow I'm riding about 50 miles with the xXx laydeez. Should be fun!