Saturday, January 23, 2010

Club Ride 2010

I did my first club ride of 2010 today. I tried to ride with the club last Sunday, but no one showed up due to thick fog. Five of us rode 34 miles today at a brisk pace (for me anyway). Much thanks to Chuck and Steve who occasionally dropped back to bring me back up into the group. I got to meet K-Mart Dave, who is a local biking legend.

Since the vast majority of my riding is solo, it is fun to ride with others, especially experienced riders who are steady on the bike. Chuck and Steve tucked me into tight formation and kept me well protected from a fairly strong southeast wind. Since I am probably as big as both of them put together, I wished I could have spent more time at the front pulling for them. But I know as the year progresses and I get more quality (i.e. faster) miles under my belt, I'll gladly return the favor.

I want to ride the Ride Across INdiana (RAIN) this July, so I will try like heck to get faster and stronger on the bike. I've gotten a good riding base from the last 3 years, so now is a good time to start mashing the pedals a little more. It did feel really good to finish the ride with the group, although I slowed them down a fair bit. Next week I'll be a little stronger, and a little stronger the next week...

On a side note, the temp got up to 40 F today, the second day since November it has reached 40. My cold weather biking this winter has toughened me up - although the wind was blowing and a mist was falling, it still felt warm.

Happy Riding!

5 comments:

Steve A said...

Felt good afterwards, eh? I think you'll be ready before RAIN gets here. THIS YEAR, your REAL challenge will be dabbling in cyclocross for the first time...

Oldfool said...

Oh man, do it will you are young. This is one of those things I never did and now never will. I will keep riding however at least until I fall over and can't get up.

rlove2bike said...

I do most of my riding alone also, so I know what you mean when you talk about how nice it is ride with a group. It sounds like you have a very nice group to ride with. You will do just fine.

jeff said...

RAIN sounds like a fun ride. I might have to do that someday to get more states under my belt. Good luck and keep us posted!

Apertome said...

I remember Kmart Dave, and Steve, if it's the same Steve I'm thinking of. Good group, that 3 Rivers club.

At one point doing RAIN was a goal of mine, but I haven't given it much thought lately. It'd probably be worth doing, at some point, but I get the sense that it's crowded, and I'm not really a fan of crowds.