Back in the Saddle Again

These Rides: 63.7 miles
Month: 451.9 miles
2011: 6,371.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 12491.3 miles

It has been attitude more than physical reasons that after my long ride Friday-Saturday I took something of a break.  I’m glad I had a ride with a colleague scheduled for Monday, otherwise I might not have ridden.

The colleague who named my long ride “crazy fun” has been wanting to ride with me for months, and since we were going to be at a conference together, with some time Monday afternoon set aside for wellness activities, it seemed like the perfect thing to drag our bikes along and ride.  I anticipated an easy 20 miles or so.  Kristen wasn’t ready to turn around at 10 miles in.  She set a landmark goal 15 miles in, and I convinced her to turn around at mile 22+ before we reached the landmark.  We were riding on the Eastern Shore along the coastal highway north of Ocean City, and really didn’t notice that we had a pretty strong tailwind the last part of our trip north.  When we turned around, the wind in our face was brutal … blowing about 20 mph.  Our speed dropped rapidly.  I asked what her longest ride had been before, and she told me that it was 25 miles.  I knew we were in trouble.  Neither of us had brought food, we had one water bottle each, and now we were pushing into a stiff wind.  She is not confident enough to draft close enough to make a difference, so we slogged along, stopping every 5 miles or so to stretch.  There were lots of encouraging words I pushed her way.  Soon enough though, I deposited her at the condo she was staying at, and I turned back north, with a tail wind, for a nice fast and easy ride back to my motel.  It actually turned out to be a good recovery ride for me.

And during this ride, I passed the distance mark that is the equivalent of riding halfway around the world.

Today (Thursday) I stopped making excuses and got back out with the 5:45 group … or should I say, 5:46?  I rode the fixie since it is the cleanest bike, and I intend to ride it more during the next several weeks specifically to strengthen my legs for the next 200k.  Quite a few of us were out.  The trail surface was damp to wet and wet leaves littered the path.  I decided to take it relatively slow, but soon found myself with Jeff S in the middle.  A group of riders were out fast, another group was behind.  When the group behind had a rider flat and stop to assist, Jeff and I became the tail of the group.  He seemed content to ride with me, which was good, because pushing more than I did this morning was just not in the cards.  I’m very fatigued.  I didn’t have a good night’s sleep.

I’m looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.  I’m disappointed that I’ll not be able to ride the SPP OC-13 rides this weekend.  There are about 20 riders going.  It would be a good time.  I’ll be conducting a wedding and leading worship on Sunday.

Ride details are below.