So last night was the third day of my "official" training program.  Hill repeats, in Chicago, are a joke.  I have always sort of laughed about how our city is so flat, but when it comes time where you could really use a hill, there are not any, not to mention the 2-3 minute hill the plan was calling for.  If I only needed to ride it once I could hit up a parking garage, but this was calling for ten.  Anyway, Zach and I went down onto the path and rode over the speed bump down south.  I timed three minutes in either direction and we just made it an 130% effort from that point, finishing on top of the bump.  It worked out well and for all intents gave me the same amount of effort.  I only made it through seven of the reps before I was completely cooked and would have been useless on the remaining three, the ride back to the loop was a struggle.  This is the point of training right?  It started to rain on Zach and I just as we hit the museum campus.  Not so bad for me, with two miles West to ride, but I felt bad for Zach, who came down to ride with me and was still looking at 12 more miles North.  Either way, by the time I hit State Street it was pouring.  Riding West on Adams, there was a significant amount of standing water on the street and inevitably, as I rode between the right lane and a parked car I was forced into one.  Well, in short, there was something significant in the water and it dumped me onto the pavement.  Lesson one, wet handle bars are slippery.  We all knew that and I was almost expecting to slip up at some point on the way home.  Lesson two, you really slide when the pavement is wet.  I hit the ground and bounced off my bike and went into this pretty rad 20 foot slide and spin, stopping facing my bike 15 feet behind me as the traffic came to a stop as fast as possible.  Picked myself and the bike up, slightly embarrassed, but also feeling pretty lucky and huffed the last mile home.  Sore and road rash was the only result, but it defiantly was not supposed to be part of my recovery cool down.  I got home and Julie took care of me in my exhausted stupor, having a much needed dinner ready.  My bike, completely fine.  The rear wheel needs a little truing, but I am completely astounded at the amount of abuse the carbon SRAM Force levers have taken without breaking.  Mud, snow and a hard hit of frozen tundra in Kansas City racing cross on top of the other times I have fallen over.  That endorsement also is extended to the carbon levers on my juicy ultimate brake levers on my mountain bike, which by all standards should have exploded into nothingness by now.