Wondrous Bike Ride

A few weeks ago, I had one of those runs that makes you feel glad that you are alive. Yesterday, I had one of those bike rides. The weather was perfect - the weather was just a little cold, foggy and overcast, but the roads were mostly dry and not slick. No wind.

I joined forces with some people from my team and we started out easy with the large group. As the ride strung out, someone went by and I hopped on his wheel. Two others hopped on as well and we cruised until we hit the first turn a few miles down. The pack broke up a bit and the road narrowed, but we still made good time and were able to reform. As we descended a long hill, some challenges presented themselves - wooden bridges and road debris, but we skirted those and I suddenly found myself drafting off my teammate, making very good time. I took a turn and we pulled into the back of another paceline. I was content to sit there, but my teammate pulled out and I went with him. I had noticed by now that I was pretty much the fastest one out there going downhill (my weight was good for something). On stretches that were mostly downhill, I would take a pull. We jumped out again, and he pulled, then I pulled and we skipped the first rest stop. My heart rate was really sky high at this point, but I gamely jumped on the wheel to keep the draft going uphill. We saw another paceline and I thought "refuge." So I took the front for a strong pull, then he did (with me struggling) and we finally pulled in the back. I was nearly cooked, 16 miles in, but I thought I might be able to recover. And I did, for a bit. The paceline held together pretty well for another 10 miles or so, but when we turned, I had a bit of crosswind and knew I was in trouble. I finally cracked a mile short of the 2nd aid station, where everyone stopped. At this point, my teammate and I pulled out our maps and said, "Wow - we've covered a serious amount of pavement." It was just 3 1/2 miles to the turn for the longest route. Time off the bike always restores me, so we hopped on pretty quickly and fell into a pattern of "sharing duties." I'd go hard on stretches that were mostly downhill, he'd drag me up sections that were mostly uphill and give some rest on the downhills, too.

Long story short, we traded off that way through the rest of the ride, well matched and flying. Toward the end, I was hurting a lot and standing up on some uphill sections to keep pace, but we pulled into the parking lot with a 19.7 mph average. It was by no means a "long ride" (more like 3 1/2 hours of intervals for me), but it was an immensely satisfying ride with just two weeks to go to the MS150.