One of the things I enjoy most about this time of the year is the the carefree riding that I can experience. There are not any races in my near future so there are not any intervals that need to be done, or tapers that have to be undertaken. I can just get out and ride as much as I want, and as hard as I want, on any given today. Today I rode with Dan Y. who is still “In Season”, and because of this, he had an interval protocol that he had to get through. As far as intervals go, the one’s Dan was completing would have been right up my alley if I had chosen to do them. But I had no interest in that today. I decided to just sit back, enjoy the ride and watch Dan sprint. And sprint he did. He sprinted upwards of 15 times during one of the hours we were riding. And he did these sprints in a variety of conditions – from smooth pavement, to muddy dirt and all of the way to thick dirt that was freshly churned up by the road grater. Overall it was a great effort by Dan. He showed excellent strength and recovery in his efforts, and  I think he was happy with how he performed. And that made for two of us as I was elated to be able to be out on a fantastic day and just pedal and not worry about a thing.