So I'm out with my (now usual) Tuesday night ride. Massive headwinds keep the group speed to about 31-34 km/h, and my turns pulling are good workouts (you can see the pulls in the heart rate data)

We get to the halfway sprint, and not only do I initiate the snap; I win it too. (I've got great jump but I need to work on being able to sustain it.)

So I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Maybe I'm "fast". Not Lance fast of course... but relative to my group I seem to be doing OK.

Then I flat. No big deal; I'm pretty quick at changing tubes and I have a pair of fresh spares. The group waits patiently and the tire doesn't give me any trouble.

As I'm reattaching the wheel and repacking the tools, the A+ ride rolls by. This, as it turns out, is the local racer training group ride. In it is apparently the newly crowned Ontario Provincial Champion and a bunch of other really fast guys.

They stop to make sure we're OK, and when I say we're all done and about to get moving again, the group leader grins and says "well, you're welcome to come suffer with us".

Um, OK?

So the two groups merge into a pack of about 40 guys. I'm at the back. And the speeds start slowly ramping up.

35. 38. 42. 46. 48. 52. Jebus!

At 52 km/h I am working my ass off but I'm still with the group. The pack is punching a huge hole in the air and as long as I stay in the draft, I'm OK. This is a strong effort, but I can do this.....

And then in the space of 5 seconds, about a dozen guys ahead of me start shaking their heads and sit up. The back of the pack is disintegrating like the tail of a comet. I'm going past them, but in the space of an eyeblink the back third of the pack is gone and suddenly the pack is UP THERE and I am out of the draft and solo.

What can I do? I get in the drops and try and bridge up.

If holding on to the back of the pack at 52 km/h was tough, bridging up seems nearly impossible. My heart rate has never been this high on a bike before. But with God as my witness, with my lungs on fire and my legs lead, I start reeling them in.

I can see the air hole. All I have to do in get to that hole and I'll be OK. There is respite waiting in the draft.

But I don't have it in me. I just can't sustain the effort level long enough to bridge up. And so I shake my head and sit up, and the pack is GONE. I am OTB and dropped.

C00l! First time dropped! Another milestone met!

So I finish the ride solo, doing 38-42 km/h.

I love this sport. Every time I think I've got a handle on it, a new challenge presents itself. Time to learn how to hold a sprint.

DG