Tuesday Night JDL Ride

Well the pack was back for the Tuesday night ride at Jimmy DeLoach again tonight. I guess I tried to be a little too aggressive at the beginning and should have held back more, but I didn't.

I had no problem going out to Hwy21 and across the overpasses and back. Then as we were about to cross I95 I found myself near the front behind a guy who was trying to catch a small group that broke away early on. They were not that far ahead so I decided to go with him on an uphill charge. We caught them and I was OK, but pretty winded by the effort.

I took it easy for the next couple of miles but once again I found myself near the front. This time the whole group had narrowed down to a single file line. The guys at the front were pulling and dropping back in quick rotation to try to catch up with a couple of guys who had pulled off the front. Oh, I forgot to mention we were peddling into a good 6.5mph headwind.

Anyway, it was getting difficult just to hang on in the line. Then it came my turn to pull at the front. I pulled good, but I tried to pull for too long. When I went to drop back I found no gaps in the group to slide into. It was one solid line. My legs and lungs spent I just slid all the way off the back of the group. And they were gone. I had held on for 10.5 miles but I was by myself now.

I trudged along against the headwind for a while. Another rider caught up with me and we pulled each other along for a mile or two. I then crossed over to the other side of the road in hopes that I would be able to get back on the group on their way back around. I saw the group coming so I started speeding up. I was up around 24 - 25 mph when they caught me at about mile 13.5 . . . and began to zip past me.

I peddled as hard as I could but fell off the back once again. This is when I finally looked down and realized I had forgotten to get back in the big ring on the front which explained why my furious cadence couldn't produce enough speed to keep up. I had now been dropped twice. Bummer!

Around mile 15.5 I caught another good rider who had also been dropped twice. We took turns pulling each other back and really kept up a good pace up to about mile 19. We then turned off on the connector road back to the gas station and just took it easy to cool down.

All in all, I gave a good effort and had a good ride. However, next time I'm just gonna hang out at the back and try to hold on. It's a little more fun that way.

Total Dist.: 22.23miles
Total Time: 1:07:10
Avg. Speed: 19.9mph
Fastest Mile: 25.3mph
Max Speed: 32.1mph