Here's the crew on the state line road, about 40 miles into the ride. Everyone still looks pretty happy.
When I go on club rides, I like to help do my share of pulling at the front. This is about the 45 mile mark and the horses are getting antsy. Shortly after I took this photo, the crew, minus Luis and I, pulled away at an awesome 22 mph pace.
We at lunch at the Three Kings Restaurant in Hoagland, about 53 miles into the ride. Notice the old grey Trek, 3rd bike ahead on the left. Sweet Steel!
Several people bailed after lunch and after a short while, it was just 2 Joes, Steve and myself. I rode several miles with the group at a 19 mph pace, but even that was too much for me, so I slowed to around 16 mph and the others rapidly pulled away.
The ride was supposed to be divided into two groups - an 18 - 20 mph group, and a 15 - 17 mile group. Since the 2 Joes and Steve were ably representing the faster group, I wanted to do my best to represent the slower group. Here's me in the 15 - 17 mph peloton.
We ran into rain for much of the way, and I got quite cool at the 75 mile mark. Fortunately the rain stopped for a while at the 80 mile mark. I was a little worried for a while since I rode my bike 14 miles to the starting point, and still had a long way to go. But when the rain broke, my spirits lifted, and I quickly downed several fig bars. I was able to get back to the starting point for the ride in good shape, and rode the final 14 miles without any problems. The total ride ended up at 133.0 miles for me - my second longest ride of the year. I averaged 15.8 mph for the entire ride, so I was quite pleased. Actually, I'm happy to be vertical at the end of a long ride!
Happy riding!
8 comments:
How are those rain jackets when you are riding hard?
133 miles and carrying an average like that, is some awesome riding. A double metric plus some. Very nice.
An awfully good day in the saddle! That distance is good regardless, and at that speed, is some good riding.
After 133 miles somebody would have to haul me off on a stretcher. A 15.8 mph pace for 133 miles is awesome!
Thanks guys. Steve, I don't know how those jackets are, since I didn't bring mine. That's why I got worried in the rain - I thought I might be getting hypothermic. For commuting, I sweat like crazy if the temps are much above 40 degrees when I wear my rain coat. I guess it's better to be warm and wet than cold and wet. It was in the upper 50's for the entire ride, so I would have been uncomfortable.
Wow, I am jealous. I haven't ridden over 85 miles at a clip since May.
the 12 Centuries thing kinda went by the wayside, due to some family stuff (if you read my blog, you know what am talking about).
Great average speed, too!
Hey Jon, thanks. Yes, my heart goes out to you. I've thought about the century a month, and it intimidated me. Summer centuries are one thing, January and February centuries are a different beast altogether. Especially off-road. That takes guts.
Another century and then some! Great job, I am just getting back from a week bike-free vacation and a little worried how getting back on the bike is going to feel ...
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