During the pre-race announcements, the Army Chief of Staff specifically stated that the Secretary of the Army is the one who made the decision to keep the Army Ten Miler despite the shutdown. They also had an additional week to assess the lay of the land, whereas it sounds like the Freedom Runs didn’t have that much time to make a decision / arrangements.
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A quick spin down thru the park to make sure the new chain is not threaded over the rear derailleur tab
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That clicking sound is just the bones
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Casper the Ghost of Nokesville // MTI 4x8
Prince William and Faquier Counties, VA, USA
Got a solid ride in while my high schooler ref’d some soccer games. Beautiful weather - high 40s F at the start, 60s by the end. Over-dressed a bit at the beginning with an Ornot thermal long-sleeve jersey and Micro Climate jacket. Ended up taking the jacket off 15 minutes in. Should have either forgone the jacket altogether or gone with a mid-weight LS jersey. I ditched the buff and cap with about an hour to go. +1 for layering! Did some low cadence work, too.
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I go out quite a bit in just a mesh base layer and the microclimate jacket. It’s nice because if you get too hot you can just unzip half way and still have the base layer, but it sucks if you feel the need to completely remove the jacket.
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I never thought to use just the Micro Climate Jacket and a base layer. I bought the jacket last fall while on sale and really haven’t used it much (mainly because I’m becoming a wimp about the cold). It was super warm and cut the wind down substantially. I really have no excuse to not ride outside in the cold with it.
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MTI 5x7
Anacostia Park, Washington, DC, USA
Pretty windy from the north, so I shifted the start of the intervals such that I was pushing against the wind for as long as possible. Reminded me of riding in Florida - nearly pan flat with the wind acting as ‘hills.’ Worked well.
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Hiked the Rattlesnake Gulch loop with my wife yesterday. The trail starts in Eldorado Canyon State Park and leads to a beautiful view of the Continental Divide. Georgous weather, and gave us a chance to get out of the 40mph gusts we’ve had the last few days in Boulder Colorado.
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On Saturday I did what I coined an inverse sprint duathlon (ride, run, ride). Basically involved riding into town to Parkrun, running it, then riding back. I was visiting family out in the country, & it seemed a bit luxuriant to drive when I could ride, considering there was nothing else I was going into town for. Unfortunately I misjudged the distance from their house at Ballandean to Stanthorpe by a few km. Turned a nice Z2 commute on back roads into a tempo ride on the highway. 
Got there in the nick of time (unfortunately didn’t get to do a full costume change) & did the run.
(Pic nicked from the run’s facebook page)
Headed back a different way, spun out my top gear twice on the descents from Eukey.
And here’s something. I thought I was putting out a fairly consistent effort. Adrenaline definitely reduces RPE. Little wonder I have zero interest in training inside when my power is proportional to speed: 
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Had a 1 hour of endurance ride in “gravelsome Bulgaria”. With heavy modified Bulgarian Drag gravel bike. Explored trails I haven’t been in like more than 10 years.
Of
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I took advantage of the unseasonably mild and dry weather to do my Z2 workout (Pioneer-3) outside at lunchtime. Being it was extremely windy I headed into East Northamptonshire to do it. Given its a little hillier and the wind I ended up going slightly out of zone for 11mins though. The exposed descent into Glatton in the 21mph side wind felt a little sketchy. The flat Holme Road with it mainly behind me though was fun.
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A bit wetter today but still mild so for my Z2 session today (Black) I did a couple of loops of Conington Airfield.
I used the fully guarded winter/commuter bike which has no power meter so I just done it on RPE/HR alone. Annoyingly, there was workouts at the top of Holme Road. On the way south, I arrived at the right time (just after NB traffic had cleared) and sailed through. But on the way North I got stuck behind a queue of traffic and it didn’t feel right to push and RLJ through the coned off area. And given I was there that long more traffic formed behind me, so I was a little harder than Z2 through there 
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First gravel ride since we’ve relocated from Texas to Washington. Soooo much climbing here, I absolutely love it! Today was over 5000’ in 42 miles. Perfect weather, scenery, gravel, and route. About 85% gravel. Very few cars. I met a guy out here (he reached out on Reddit) and he’s been a blast to ride with. He’s in his late 50’s and is a crazzzzy strong rider. Light years ahead technically and stronger overall (I’m just shy of 4 w/kg) so it’s been great to have someone to ride with. I’m normally a very very solo rider, but he’s been great company and we’re on similar wavelengths ride-wise
With these hills, trying to stay in Z2 is not that appealing 
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Busy weekend just gone. Riding with a friend at the Forest on Saturday focusing on technical descents, but like all rides with my fast friends, it was a bit of a brute in work terms with over an hour in threshold heart rate and 8 minutes in VO2 over the 2.15 hr riding time. In power terms is was everything that an unstructured ride always is, 17 minutes anaerobic, 13 mins VO2, 17 mins threshold and so on. Heart rate was high for the effort because I have lost fitness over a bit of an off season…..but it was nice to still be climbing steep stuff well at the end of the ride and I got loads out of the descending as well as the obvious social connection and time somewhere beautiful. It was a worthwhile ride, even if it left me knackered the next day.
Sunday my coach had stuck a 3 hr z2 with 10 x 80 percent sprints in the calendar, thank goodness! It felt like hard work at the start but fine one i warmed up (as evidenced by the negative heart rate drift).
Then in the afternoon I had a long walk with a friend, did a load of chores, and then had to go and play hide and seek on the local hill. You know when you say you are going to do something and then kind of regret committing? It was pouring with rain, I was shattered and I just wanted to lie on the sofa. As it was, it was brilliant. The hiders (including me) were on foot and had an hour and 20 minutes to run, hide and then slowly make their way to the top of the hill without getting caught by a seeker…the seekers were on electric bikes. Such a fun format and pretty tactical. It involved a lot of walking around in the dark trying not to trip over, sitting still in the pouring rain in camo gear (I was so tired I was more than happy to do this) before scrambling up the hill dodging the lights of the seekers 
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