OMG, who's after us?

May 6, 2009

I did the Tuesday night "A" training ride last night. I think a better description would be that I took a ride on a PAIN train. There were 25-30 riders at the start. The first mile or 2 were civil, then, apparently someone must have been chasing us, because everyone seemed hell bent for glory to get away from “something”. I was at the front of the group when this all started. Id did my turns in the rotating paceline. We were averaging 27-29 mph. I kept in the rotation, did my pull and moved back each time. Every turn at the front seemed progressively harder. The occasional red light was a welcome, yet brief, relief. I had no false hopes or delusions of grandeur. I knew I could not hold this pace for 43 miles. My turns in the rotation were done. I moved to the line of riders who were sitting in at the back.
The elastic started to stretch for me around mile 10. I would gain a little ground, and fall off a bit. It snapped at 11.5 miles and I was spent. I was not alone, however. There was a line of scattered riders behind the main field like litter on the road. My only thought was to breath and try to keep upright. A pace of 20 mph now seemed like a day at the beach. Oh, guess what, we must have lost our pursuer or whatever we were running from because no one ever caught up to us. Believe me, I’d have known, because I was an easy target at this point. Time to regroup, suck it up, walk it off and get with the program. I did a steady TT effort for a mile or so picking up a rider here and there, we soon had a solid group of 8 riders. Each of us took our turns at the front and eventually started a rotating paceline. We were averaging a respectable 23-25 mph unless we hit hills. We knew we’d never catch the lead group, but we were determined to take as much time out of the gap as possible. No one said a word. There was no time to talk, much less eat. An occasional, hurried gulp of water was a luxury and one relished when the opportunity presented its self.
With the exception of one rider who always accelerated through his pull and surged off the front, we had a steady smooth group. We finished our 43.12 miles in 2 hours, 1 minute with an overall average speed of 21.4 mph. My reward for the suffer-rama was a Hardees’s Thickburger! SOOO good.
Today, I am feeling that ride in my legs.
I will not be defeated by the Tuesday night ride. Next week, my goal is 13-15 miles with the group. If I get spit out the back then, so be it. Baby steps…a mile or 2 more each week until I can hold on and stay in the rotation for the duration. What doesn’t kill me will only make me faster.
“And you call that fun?” my wife asked after my ride recap. Yeah, for some sick, twisted reason, I guess I do. Go figure…
Today is recovery day. Some stretching and relaxing are in order and maybe a Lynchburg Lemonade.