A Couple of Fast Rides

It is a rare Tuesday evening when I’ve got no church-related responsibilities.  On those occasions, when I think of it, the Tuesday Evening Pizza Ride is a great chance to ride with people I don’t often ride with, and get a good fast ride in.  When I discovered that all of those elements came together perfectly last evening, I planned the ride and invited Lori to join me after her work at Squizito’s.

About a dozen riders pushed off from the Rusty Bridge with only Marcus as a regular 5:45 rider.  Two guys from this year’s Flèche team were riding and a couple of guys I’d never ridden with.  We breezed south down the B&A Trail and headed out to St. Margaret’s Road.  The Holly Drive Loop was a blast.  We had high speeds despite a quite fractured pace line.   It is always fun looking down at the speedometer and seeing speeds in excess of 25 mph on a bike on flat ground.

We had a great pace, a great ride, and half a dozen of us settled in for Italian food and drink at the end.  As I pedaled home, I got to see the sun setting … which mean that I saw both the sunrise and sunset from a bike seat this day.

I was quite apprehensive about Wednesday morning’s 5:45 ride after that quick pace late yesterday.  I took a very easy pace to the Rusty Bridge and even announced that I would probably be slow this morning.  The speed of the group gradually came up over the ride, and by the last half, we were flying.  I was curious about my overall speed and when I got home and plugged in the Garmin to download the details, I discovered that this was the fastest ride of the year.  This has been a good month for setting personal or annual speed records.  I am feeling much stronger and I notice that my heart rate recovers very fast these days.  It will sometimes drop 40 beats per minute in the course of a minute or so.

So, two rides in the last 24 hours.  That adds to the fun and the mileage.

(In a funny coincidence, I bumped into a Malaria Campaign donor at Squizito’s.  He asked what I was doing there (dressed as I was in my cycling kit and sweating like no one else in the restaurant).  I replied that I was attempting to extract money from his pocket.  It took him a heartbeat or two before he caught on!

These Rides: 50.7 miles
Malaria Campaign: 202.7 miles
Funds Pledged: $56.75
Contributed in support: $100