The Joy of Riding

Once again I awoke at 6:00am Saturday morning to drive down to Norwood for the Landry's group ride. Wiser after last weeks experience I went out with the B group, and I had an absolute blast. Patrick was our group leader, and he had some fresh legs after taking around a week and a half off due to the flu. Unfortunately with only 9 people in the group we had no chaser and we lost two early on at a turn, after around a half hour of trying to track them down we reached them on a cell phone and we continued on our way.

The 7 remaining riders were all at a pretty equal level of ability, except for Patrick, so the ride went at a nice clip and I didn't get dropped off the back like a ton of bricks. Part of that was the new wheels. Now, I liked my old wheels just fine but wow do the new Ksyrium SL's make a huge difference on the hills and during accelerations. While I am slowly getting in better shape they were a huge help in letting me scoot up the hills, and take my turns at the front.

The Pan-Mass Challenge was going the other way as we headed out of Medfield and it was an impressive sight. I don't think I've ever seen so many cyclists on the road at the same time before. My only qualm is they really hogged the road. They were riding so many abreast at one point that they took up half of our lane and almost hit one of our riders. Still it is a great cause and I was proud to see all shapes and sizes flying by.

Near the end of the ride there is a really long uphill climb that has a series of steep and then shallow climbs. Around half way up as we hit a steep part I decided to put on some speed and see just how much I could accelerate going up the hill and I took off. As I slowed down further up to catch my breath and let the others catch me Patrick flew by me at mach 9, so I went for another push to catch him. I didn't manage to make it onto his wheel until right near the very top and only then because he slowed down. He taught me an important lesson on attacking, do it near the top of the climb and only do it when you have the energy to keep pushing the pace after you reach the top. Otherwise they'll just blow by you while you're getting your legs back under you.

After the hill four of us formed into a pace line and they taught me some of the basics like pulling off to the left, the elbow saying go through, and accelerating before you reach the end of the line so you don't get dropped. I did eventually get dropped from the line a short way before one of the stops as I screwed up getting onto the last wheel and burned myself out trying to latch back on.

When we finished I was tired but glowing. Out of all the rides I've done so far this was by far the most fun. I think part of it may be that I've made it to the ride for the past four weeks in a row and people are starting to warm up to me. I think some of the older riders get a kick out of my enthusiasm and eagerness to listen to their advise and stories. The new wheels really did make a difference too, and now that my commuter wheels are heavier than ever I think I'll always feel that difference when I put the race wheels on.

Michelle took a picture of me yesterday before I took off for work. I wish I had seen it before this afternoon as I now realize my helmet strap is way loose. Oh well, and damn I have knobby knees! This Saturday also marks the end of my third week of riding. In the last three weeks I've traveled roughly 380 miles on the bike. While not even close to the mileage I know some people put up in a week I'm pretty happy with how its gone. Today was also the first day where I really started to believe that I could be a great climber one day. It was the first day where I really looked forward to each hill as we approached it, and wow does that seem strange.