Reunion Ride

I started off in the morning under beautiful blue sky with the fixed gear bike, heading for a maple bar. (okay, okay, TWO maple bars!) I spent the late morning  modifying a bike rack and on Race Across the West preparations.  By early afternoon I got an invitation to join a hilly training ride, but I'm no longer a member of the group so I declined.

By mid afternoon I had some errands to run, but loaded up my carbon bike hoping to get some time to ride.  The weather was still quite nice though there were a few clouds beginning to form.   Monica texted again, saying that she and Paul were going to preride the route beginning at 4:30 and could I join them, since it was now not a club ride.  I said sure, but noted that it was now pouring rain outside and I didn't have a raincoat, or the rainbike. 

As I was driving to the starting location the rain quit, but the roads were still wet. I put on a clip on rear fender and a windbreaker and joined in.   Both of them are good riders and I was going to have my work cut out for me.  Paul commutes ~25 miles round trip each weekday, and rides considerable miles each weekend.  He's a strong rider.  Monica can certainly hold her own. We started up the first hill, and as we did the sky opened up.  It just poured.  It was 58 degrees so cold wasn't an issue, but it was certainly wet.  I was working hard to keep up with Paul.  We dropped down a short hill, then began another climb, this one longer.  I settled into a mid range gear and just pedaled up.  As we crested the hill we were treated to a nice rolling descent.  I was on my aerobars and moving along pretty quickly.  I hit 42 mph and put some distance on my friends.   We regrouped at the bottom then rode back into Sherwood closing our loop.  Paul's club ride started at 6PM, and we had made it back with about 15 minutes to spare.  No problem, of the 12 or so RSVPs, only 1 person was there as they shoved off at 6:01.   3 more came in after the group shoved off. "Wow, did Paul already take off?"   Well, the ride description said shoving off at 6PM, you show up at 6:15, and still have to get set up.  That's one of the reason's I don't participate in the group anymore.

The ride was only 11 miles long, but was a good workout.  It was nice to see these two, whom I haven't seen in quite some time. 

Closed the evening out with corned beef, cabbage, and a bottle of Guinness.

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total
Today............14...............0..............0...............0.................14 Jan...............765...............0...............0...............0...............765
Feb................248...............0...............0...............0................248
March...........130.................0................0..............0................130
Total............1143...............0...............0...............0..............1143