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03-18-06, 08:08 PM
Another fantastic day for riding in the Carolinas. The weather geeks had me concerned about it being too cool but they missed it and it turned out to be a fabulous day for riding. The sky was cloudless and the highs had to be in the 60's.
I traveled about 90 miles to do a group ride in SC. The group was doing a 60 mile loop and my plan was to do the first 30 miles with the group and then turn off and do an additonal loop solo for 30 miles off the main route. This would have taken me up into the mountains and given me about 90 miles and some good climbing for the day.
Well it didn't take but just a few miles for me to realize my legs were just not going to cooperate today. I played golf Friday which I'm learning is a huge mistake to do the day before a bigger ride. Plus I had not slept well for at least the last 3 nights and I just didn't have much in the tank.
So, I rode with the lead group for about 20 miles and got dropped. Fortunately I met up with a nicest female racer who was really struggling and got dropped as well. She insisted that I go on and not wait for her but I really didn't have anything better to do so I paced myself so we could ride together without her struggling too much.
We wound up riding the last 40 miles together and had a absolute blast. We talked for a good while about everything under the sun and then she rode my wheel for a good long stretch to the finish. We both agreed that while we've ridden solo quite a bit in a situations like that, it was so much more enjoyable to have company. I suspect we both soon forgot about how bad we were feeling. In fact, as it turns out we did so well together we didn't finish all that far behind the lead group. She was most encouraging and seemed to know just the right things to say to help me keep the tempo up.
What could have been a really disappointing day turned out to be a most pleasant riding experience. Just another reason to love this riding stuff.....I seem to met some of the nicest people out on the road.
I'll get out tomorrow and get in a few more miles but will certainly miss my riding partner from today!
I traveled about 90 miles to do a group ride in SC. The group was doing a 60 mile loop and my plan was to do the first 30 miles with the group and then turn off and do an additonal loop solo for 30 miles off the main route. This would have taken me up into the mountains and given me about 90 miles and some good climbing for the day.
Well it didn't take but just a few miles for me to realize my legs were just not going to cooperate today. I played golf Friday which I'm learning is a huge mistake to do the day before a bigger ride. Plus I had not slept well for at least the last 3 nights and I just didn't have much in the tank.
So, I rode with the lead group for about 20 miles and got dropped. Fortunately I met up with a nicest female racer who was really struggling and got dropped as well. She insisted that I go on and not wait for her but I really didn't have anything better to do so I paced myself so we could ride together without her struggling too much.
We wound up riding the last 40 miles together and had a absolute blast. We talked for a good while about everything under the sun and then she rode my wheel for a good long stretch to the finish. We both agreed that while we've ridden solo quite a bit in a situations like that, it was so much more enjoyable to have company. I suspect we both soon forgot about how bad we were feeling. In fact, as it turns out we did so well together we didn't finish all that far behind the lead group. She was most encouraging and seemed to know just the right things to say to help me keep the tempo up.
What could have been a really disappointing day turned out to be a most pleasant riding experience. Just another reason to love this riding stuff.....I seem to met some of the nicest people out on the road.
I'll get out tomorrow and get in a few more miles but will certainly miss my riding partner from today!