Fast is Fun

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday = steady rain.

Today = mostly clear skies and dry roads.

Yesterday = quick ride in the rain.

Today = Fast, fast ride with heart pounding out of my chest.

I got out of the house a little later than expected this morning and knew that I had to get home early to get cleaned up before a 7:30 meeting.  Who has 7:30 meetings?  When I arrived at the Rusty Bridge, I could tell that the horses were ready to race.  Some guys only come out for the speed runs.  Out of the gate, the pace was fast at first, but then it slowed a little … down to only about 22 mph on the trail.  I hung on.  As we made the turn onto Jennings Road, I was convinced that I’d be unable to hold the pace and it was here that I peaked for the day at close to 32 mph.  Sure enough, by the time we hit the trail again, we were going fast and again I thought I’d loose the group, but then they slowed some and it was possible to maintain the 20+ mph past Robinson Road and onto Old County Road.  I resolved to remain on Old County Road and set myself up on the yellow center line.  Two other riders followed me and the rest went through Round Bay.

I was now determined not to get caught before the end of the trail.  That meant keeping my heart rate up in the red zone and making sure my pedal strokes were strong and circular.  Brian and I played tag a little, but by the time I hit the trail, I was ahead by some considerable distance.  Brian is a strong rider, and as I conserved a little energy he caught up to me.  I ducked behind him for a little while, then passed him and led for a  while at around 24 mph.  Soon I was fading, and he passed me just before the end of the trail.  Scott was doing his best to catch us both before the end after having gone through Round Bay, and he nearly did so.  I loved his comment at the end of the trail, “Now I feel like I need to vomit.”

I was spent.  I eased back on the speed as I moved north on the trail, and when I got to Glen Oban I waited for Mike C who was lagging the whole group after an attempt through Round Bay.  We rode back from there together, still keeping a pretty good pace.  Along the way, we saw Chris L out on the bike!  A hearty cheer and a thumbs up for him!  I cut the ride short, skipping the last two miles and headed home the quickest way.

The results were good, not record breaking, but good.  Average speed for the morning was 18.1 mph.  I had one 19.8 mph 5 mile “lap”.

That was fun.  I don’t want to do it every day, but it was fun.

This Ride: 19.4 miles
Month: 435.8 miles
2012: 2033.6 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 15,887.2 miles