Saturday Morning Ride

There are still some triathletes out there taking advantage of the dry later summer we have been having. I appreciate these few people because it gives me someone to ride with. However, I have to be honest and say that this is the first group ride I have been on in 2 years... Maybe more.

The setting... Fairwood parking lot at 6:30 am, temperature 42 degrees. Though the sun was not quite up yet, it was clear and calm.

Sam was waiting for me (weird huh) and checking his wheel when I arrived. His front brake was rubbing but we were able to fix that quickly with Sam's 1000 piece tool kit from his jacked up Honda CRV. We took off and headed north on 395. The cool air only took a few minutes to make your face go numb, but after that it seemed to go fine... kind of like the swim will do tomorrow too. We hit the first few hills a little hard to waken up the legs... And awake they were. We eventually made it Deer Park where we turned east and headed for Hwy 2. On the way there we saw and abandoned full size Dodge pick up that was wrapped around a tree with law enforcement on the scene. The driver was not there, and probably fled the scene when he hit the tree late last night. Sam said that he thought the truck looked like one of his friends because of the rainbow sticker in the back window that read 'diversity.'

We eventually made it to the Greenbluff loop where I got a call from Gregg and Scott who finally got out of bed and would eventually join us in about an hour. Sam and I continued hitting all the hills on the Greenbluff loop until we finally joined up with Gregg and Scott. I did not recognize Scott at first because he did not have his helmet on. He said that he was a really good cyclist and did not need one. He said he only wears one if he thinks he might crash. He did have a fleece hat on though that made him look tough. I was feeling a little out numbered by the red bikes, but I think my carbon weave sent out a neutral message. They say red bikes go fast, so I was a little nervous.

We headed south on Argonne and hit the major climb where O' Sam a Bin Ladin pulled a 9/11 sneak attack on us and danced up the hill until we no longer saw him. We eventually caught him at the light at the top and descended down the other side where we saw him doing donuts in the intersection. Here's the video of O' Sam a Bin Ladin:



Sam decided he had enough riding with us cupcakes, and headed west on Upriver Drive.

Scott, Gregg and I headed east and went to Plants Ferry to fill up on some water... or at least I did. We rested for a few minutes exchanging muffin recipes and our favorite fall color combinations. We then contined east until Scott came up with an excuse to turn around. We needed to get back in time for his son's soccer game at Farwell. So we picked up the pace.

We exchanged the lead quite a few times and Gregg and I battled to see who would get to ride behind one of Scott's quads. Scott actually has to ride on the white line because he needs the shoulder for his other thigh.

We were making good time thanks to some hard efforts by Gregg and Scott. We turned north on Freya and started up a short climb by Esmerelda Golf course. Scott did not shift at all and got out of the saddle and grinded up the hill. I held on for dear life and started to see stars at the top... they were stars and balloons for a garage sale in a few bloks... but I was tired. We were still grouped up and out of nowhere Gregg goes flying by us at about 35 MPH. He turned to look at us as he passed to give a smile, but he did not want to lose the draft of the URM truck he was in the draft of. Fortunately we caught him at a stop sign and were able to get all back together. We were able to get Scott to his game with 3 minutes to spare thanks to some strong headwind pulls from those guys.

Gregg and I contunied to Gregg's house which took us up a hill that I have climbed a 1000 times near Wandermere that I used to live on top of. It brought back some old memories when I as a yound cyclist and would have to climb that hill in a 42x21 which was plenty. Now I found myself in a 39x25 working hard. I thought I was in good shape? Ah, youth.

Gregg refueled me with some Gatorade and PowerBars and I needed to head off for another hour by myself. I hit some tough hills but managed to make it home where I took my Recover-Ease and then had a small bite to eat... 1 bowl of oatmeal, a bagel, a pbj sandwhich, and a yogurt. Ya know, just something to get in the tummy. I ended up being out on the road for about 6+ hours, but I think I rode about 5:15. Good ride with great people who found it to be fun to ride together as a group. I cannot wait until we can all be at these rides with our Tri-Fusion clothing. It will look pretty dang cool.

Thanks to Sam, Scott, and Gregg who all made the ride happen. We all rode different distances today, literally, but were all able to at one time ride as a club. Pretty nice. Maybe next time other wil join. But make sure to eat your Wheaties, cause these work horses don't go easy.