Well we went on our weekly STP ride yesterday.  As usual it rained for half of it, but unlike rides in the past I finally got some rain gear.  I bought Cannondale’s Grind Pants.  They are actually designed for Mountain Biking but they work great for me.  One nice thing about these pants is if the weather does turn for the better you can actually zip off the bottom part and you are left with shorts on.  Yesterday after it stopped raining the sun came out for a bit but you could see up ahead that it was raining.  So I didn’t want to take the pant legs off but I was getting a little warm.  I found some zippers on the front inseams (no it was not the fly) and sure enough they were vents.  It was just the perfect amount of cool air till the rain started again.  I also got some booties for my feet.  They keep your feet warm and dry in the rain.  So as it rained on us yesterday it was the first time where I was not miserably cold.  The best thing I can describe it to is having good snow gear.  Sure you could go skiing in a pair of jeans but you are going to be cold quick.  Same thing here.  I kept riding in this weather in just shorts and vented bike shoes.  Back to the pants.  The other cool thing they have on them is some straps on the front that synch around your legs.  If you mountain bike you know how nice this is.  On downhill docents you are hardly on your seat.  Most of the time you are balancing behind it but there are times you come back above it.  The problem with baggy shorts or pants is they get caught on the seat as you slide back.  With these synch straps it is not a problem.  I highly recommend them.

Now for the weird part of the ride.  I have ridden this loop before in worse shape and not had a problem with it.  This time was not the case.  I would say 40 miles in my legs started doing weird stuff.  Its hard to describe but I felt like before we left I didn’t have any energy.  When we hit 35 I was done and we still had 20 to go.  At about 7 left going up a hill I experienced the worst cramping in both my legs I have ever felt.  It was so painful and I could not move them.  They were literally stuck strait for about five minutes.  I tried to walk up the hill but they tried to cramp up again.  I thought I was going to have to call my wife to pick me up.  After a bit they started to loosen up and I stretched them out and I was able to carefully ride the rest of the way home.  Its really tweaked me out as I am not sure why it happened.  I have been much more tired and worn out on rides and never had this happen.  I must be getting old. :(  Everyone said that my legs would be in a lot of pain today from the cramping and they are not.  I feel like I just went on a bike ride.  I am keeping my finger crossed that it was something I ate or something like that otherwise I may just have to take up fishing from a chair.  We will see next weekend.