Yesterday's Bike - Fail. Today - Good

From all that happened yesterday - I don't think anyone should have biked.
Part 1 - Me.
I headed to 14th and T, pulled Blain out of of the car, and rushed to meet my group as I hear "Amanda"
I looked around, didn't see anyone and kept going. "Amanda!!" is yelled again, so I answer "YES???" And I saw someone coming over and she yelled "It's Brooke". It was true, I had no idea who she was. Oops. We had a quick chat, she was off on her run and I was off on my ride. Or I tried.
I went to clip in, my gears locked up and down I went. H.A.R.D. If it was appropriate, I would take a picture. But it's not, so I won't. But it's bad.
I met up with the group (lead by Christina who I did Augusta 70.3 with, not Karen, the other one in the pic) and I took the back/sweep. There were a few new-ish riders and I could tell this by the wobbles at stop lights.
Sure enough, right in Georgetown, down one girl went. Hard. I had to smack the saddle back into place, and she was pretty shaken up. Rightfully so - but it happens to all of us (i.e., me that morning). We kept going, and at another intersection, about 1 mile away, down again. Not as hard, but still. By this point, we lost everyone else, but we kept going - and I didn't mind the easy pace, I didn't have the use of all of my gears - I banged my derailleur during my fall.
But, as soon as we hit the first hill, I waited and waited, until she finally came up the hill, walking her bike. I felt so bad. We had a snack, said we would keep going, and as she peddled away - flat back tire. And she had no spare, pump, or patch kit (and she was on a hybrid so what I had wouldn't have worked).
Obviously shaken, I offered to ride back to my car and come back to get her and drive her home. It just wasn't her day - and I get that. On my way, I heard a rattle, stopped to make sure I had my car key. As I did, I see Karen and AJ fly by.

Part 2 - Other DC Tri People.
AJ "You okay"
Me "Rough day"
AJ and Karen - keep going. Strange that two of my closest friends flew right by me. So I take off, trying to catch them, as they were heading in the direction of their cars (and it was way to early for them to be done). They made every light, I didn't. When I got to their cars, I asked for a ride to my car. No luck for me as there was a big crash with a bunch of our DC Tri guys. Karen was getting her car to pick up those guys!
Luckily, all was okay, for the most part, with them.

Back to me.
On my way back, my chain fell twice and I had about 2 gears. No fun. But I made it back, picked up my down biker and explained what happen to the other group.
Overall, it was just a bad biking day.

Part 3 - Conte's
I confirmed my love for Conte's. I took Blain up to the shop to figure out why I couldn't hold a gear. The mechanic started explain what he had done last year for my tune up, because Blain is so awesome, he remembered working on him. Within 5 minutes, he was fixed and ready to go. And NO charge! So I ran to the store and got them some cookies as a thank you.
PS everyone - stop stealing my move!

Today
One of the club's biggest events - the Columbia Brick-nic. See, we ride and run the Columbia course (brick) and have a picnic (nic). We are smart crew. Some of us got there early so we could help out later.
Overall, it was a good ride. Slow, I was dropped pretty quickly, but it was fun. Blain was shifting great, and no dropped chains. Don't get me wrong, the course still sucks. Hills - they are not fun and I spent a lot of time there in 2008.
At one point I hear "Get off the road!" It was Joe and AJ. I managed to stay with them for about 2 minutes, then we hit a hill. And they are very fast. But I liked being on my bike and it was so nice to have so many people around, and not feel the pressure to go a speed I didn't want to go. Not push too hard to keep up, but not sweep so someone doesn't feel bad. It was a 24 mile loop - someone was always close.

After the ride, I did go for a wag (walk/jog) for the first time in months - with my new inserts!! And, I didn't want to cut off my entire foot! Just the top half, but only half way into my 2.6 miles. But, I will take it!

And then we ate. And ate (yes, that is an entire table of desserts). And ate some more.

Good times.