Today was the best lesson to date. I had discovered that to our ride leaders spoke in code. A recovery ride was code for shorter, 30-mile ride with hills tossed in. I then made the mistake of believing that the 40 to 45 mile ride we had planned today would be flatter and faster. We had a different ride leader and the ride was faster and for the most part flatter till we hit the two steepest hills I have faced to date. I managed to finish about 400 yards behind at the coffee shop. Two things happened today. I was tapped out by the time I got home and I broke a spoke at the 25-mile mark. It took both bottles and both energy bars to get me through the ride. With the two big hills tossed in my average speed wasn’t increased one bit today. And with the increased fatigue I had no spin left for the last three miles of the ride home.