Today was the Plano Bike Association’s Memorial Day ridefest, 
and like last year I wanted to participate. I’ve (finally) been riding more regularly, encouraged by the fact that as beautiful as my is to look at, it’s better to ride.
In the start-up confusion, with probably a hundred cyclists milling around in the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve parking lot, you have to make your decisions fast – and live with the result. Today I put an exclamation point to my previous post; that which doesn’t give you a heart attack makes you stronger.
“25 miles, over here! 14-15 MPH!” Hmmm, my back is sore today but that’s too slow.
“50 miles, over here! Medium pace!” Hmmm, might be too long. I haven’t ridden more than a 30 mile ride yet, but the speed has been fairly high.
“40 miles, faster pace!” The distance is right, but I can’t quite tell about the speed. I carefully eye the riders lining up for the group; I don’t see too many emaciated hammerheads in it. I opt for shorter distance vs. speed.
Well. Long story short, we averaged about 22 MPH for the 17 miles I was with them before I cracked and was spat out the back of the peleton. I could hang with them in the flat, but just didn’t have the depth yet in my legs to accelerate up the hills the way they did. One of the ride leaders paced me and another blown-up rider back up to the main group. I was composing what I was going to say to my wife to have her drive all the way out to the airport to pick me up when we stopped at a convenience store.
The 50 miler group was there also, and I shifted over to them. I was none too happy about adding an extra ten miles to my ride when I was already tired, but I didn’t really have much of a choice. Thankfully, at 16 to 17 MPH the pace was more to my taste (and condition), and I completed the day with 54 miles at about 18 MPH – slightly longer, and slightly faster, than anyone else in that group due to my dalliance with the hammerheads. And let me tell you, a measly 1 MPH difference in average speed is a BIG difference in effort!
Walking slowly to the park pavilion after the ride, I received a tweet from Lance Armstrong that said, “Ouch ouch ouch, and more ouch.” Apparently today in the Giro d’Italia was really hard. But at least I was in good company!
After a little post-ride repair work (warm bath, back wrap), I feel pretty good. Other than the two minutes it takes me to climb the stairs…
1 comment:
We had the same idea. Today, I did 40 miles and averaged 17 mph. It was an unusual Memorial Day with high fog, 5 mph headwinds, and a start temp was 47. It took 30 miles to get warm. We headed along the American River to Mather Airfield to Jackson Highway to Scott Road (one exit up from Intel). We saw wildflowers in bloom and baby cows who we surprised with the clicking of our freewheels. Thankfully no falls, no mechanical failures, and just plain fun. Get your miles in before the heat arrives!
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