I'm usually a proud dad but today even more so. I plan on being in a race on July 4th and our bike club did a group ride last night that covered about 60% of the race route. I intended on using the group ride as a training ride to prepare for racing in my 55+ age group. There two long hills then a series of good rollers on the ride followed by around 10 miles of fairly flat riding to the finish. I figure if I can hang with my age group up the long hills and rollers I'll be in the hunt at the end. About 15 riders started last night's ride and at the top of the first long hill the group was down to 8 and I was still there. After the 2nd long hill I was still OK. Once on the rollers the pace got pretty "racey" with my two son's and a couple others pushing up and over the rollers. After about 10 miles into the ride I was starting to have trouble keeping up with other riders which was now down to 6. Going over the top of one roller I started to loose the wheel of the guy in front and a 30 foot gap opened up and I figured I was done riding with the group. Then I felt a hand on my back, was given a push, and was able to catch the wheel of the guy in front. The hand was from one of my boy's. He told me to relax and not to breathe so hard (easier said than done when you're not the one dying). After that I was able to hold on with the group for the next 10 miles until we came to a 2.5 mile long hill with around a 2% rise. The group got racey again and I was off the back after 1.5 miles and riding alone. I started to catch one of the guys who came off the back, of the group, who ended up being my other son. Once I caught him I asked if he was OK and he said he was there to pull me back once we got to the top. I had my own team looking out for me and the team was my kids! We did catch back up with the front group because one guy "flatted" and I was able to ride with the guys to the end and even sprinted to the finish. Summery: distance 32 miles, ave speed 22.1, and two guardian angles ages 24 and 26.

I am happy today and that is all.