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Archive for August, 2009

I did my first group ride this weekend. I went out with the guys from the Carolina Bicycle Company for a 27 mile trek through neighborhoods and winding roads. It was a pretty good run. There weren’t too many hills and the group was really good about keeping together, regrouping, calling out when there were problems in the road.

The pace was pretty brisk, at least in the beginning , but not overly so. It was a nice run between North and South Carolina, I’m not exactly sure where we went since I’d never ridden the route before. I have to say I was just following the guy in front of me. Good thing nobody had intentions of heading to Mexico.

Of course I did have to remove all doubt that I am an amateur cyclist by falling off my bike. I made the classic blunder of clipping the wrong foot into the pedal before I was ready. I clipped my right foot (it should have been the left) and before I was really moving I got caught on the lip of the gutter and fell over – to the right. I landed in the grass so at least I had that going for me. Nothing like making an ass of yourself in front of a group of people you just met. Nowhere to go but up I guess.

I did have some vindication though, I finished the ride with the top group, including a trio of 15 year old Junior Riders who were getting in some training time. Considering I’m twice their age (and then some) I feel vindicated.

To add to my superiority (at least in my own mind) I came home and did another 20 miles on the trainer. It was a good ride but I wanted just that little bit more.

Of course I ended up eating about everything in sight including some excellent lasagna pizza from Fuel for lunch and multiple hamburgers and chicken I cooked on the grill for dinner. When you burn off 4,000 calories it’s amazing how much rubbish you can eat!

I finished the ride in just about the same time I had before, 3 hours and 21 minutes. This course was actually a touch longer than the one from last weekend so I basically had the same time for both rides. My average speed was just slightly faster at 18.8 mph. Not too bad!

The GU packs and the Gatorade did seem to make a difference. I felt pretty good at 50 miles and didn’t feel nearly as fatigued at the end.

Weddington has some really nice landscape out there with horse stables and lots of corn fiields. I thought I was in farm country there for a little while.

The only problem came at the end when my FC of an ex-wife demanded that my son come home 15 minutes before I finished the race. Of course he lives 3 minutes away, but I guess the entire operation was going to come to a screeching halt if he didn’t come back right away. Pretty typical of her I must say. I expect no less. I should have just ridden my bike over there and knocked on the damn door. I literally rode right past their house. Twice.

Anyway, a great ride and another time I am very happy with.

The bike is prepped and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Can’t say I feel any more confident about tomorrow than I did the first time. Plus, it’s supposed to be hotter than it was the first time. That has me a little worried. The slight rain kept things nice and cool.

Here’s to putting a good show.

63 miles or bust! Wish me luck!