The 2010 Season has officially begun! :)

Today the major snows from 2 weeks ago are all gone, and the temperature was 61°F, and sunny.

New Jersey is drying out from a major rainstorm over the weekend - up to 7" in places and high (55MPH+) winds, but the roads were dry for the most part. Potholes, however are another issue.

That said it was time to officially declare the start of the 2010 cycling season - marked by shaving my legs and shaving off my winter beard.

Today's ride was a 35 mile loop I have dubbed the northern part of the Hills of Attrition. It has four reasonably sized hills - 3,500' of climbing in total, with a "nose scraper" (a little stretch of 20% grade) thrown in at the end to really soften up the quads. I over dressed and had to peel off my base layer half way through the ride so I didn't overheat.

I didn't break any speed records, and the hills seem steeper and longer than when I rode them in November, but after a month things should be back to normal - which is good because the full Hills of Attrition is on April 18th. I am already 215 miles ahead of last year's pace, and I only started riding last year at the very end of March. The group I ride with (Team Marty's) have already planned out a few rides starting with The Hills of Attrition and followed a month later with the Montauk Century - a wonderful 110 mile ride to the eastern tip of Long Island through the Hamptons. Those should get me in good shape for Vancouver.

My foot is healing well, but I have a slight pain during riding where the scar is. The weather for the week is much like today (Mid 60°s and sunny) so I should be able to get a good start on building up the base.

98 days to wheels up from Newark.