Catching up

This week has flown by. I have wanted to update a few different things, but never seemed to have the time. So, with the rain cancelling the second race in as many weeks, I figured I might as well get caught up. Monday night I was able to join the Basket Case ride. There was a good sized group and it was a blast riding with a large pack. There was a couple of hills that seemed to be unstated sprint points, but that was all part of the fun. I thought the route was a bit odd, but after seeing where the Duathlon went yesterday, it all made a little more sense. Most of the riders stopped in for a after ride beer and some good conversation.

The ride was a little short @ 15 miles for what I had wanted to get in. There was a group riding a fast loop right after the ride, but being off the bike for several days and seeing how the legs responded on the sprint points, I figured I would not be able to keep up with the group and passed on that ride and had a beer. When I was leaving, I figured I might as well get a few more miles in and headed out for another section. I found myself near where the fast loop would be heading, so I put the hammer down and tried to get as far out on the loop as I could before they came by. I found them and hoped on. It was a good hard pace and felt good. I rode just fine on the way out and once I got in the group that it made me wonder how I would have fared if I did join the ride from the start. I will never know.

Wednesday there was a group going for a ride. I did what I could to free up the schedule and made contact to go along. It was decided to head over toward Ferdinand to get some hills in. There was also a YMCA ride at the same time. If we ran in to them it would be great, if not it didn't matter. We thought we were pushing it on the time limit to get there in time. Probably because of me. There was no shortage of climbs and I did what I could, but I am still not the climber they are. I will say that I think I am improving, but some of the hills still get me. I can climb them with out a problem, but climbing them fast is another thing. Any hill that I have a raised rpm while climbing, I will run out of gas and be slow. If I can push a bigger gear I have a better chance of staying with the group. This is something I need to work on along with just climbing in general.

We did end up catching the YMCA group. There was a good amount of riders. There were even a few more than what was in the picture. There was also a smaller second group that was going to ride at a little slower pace. That ride is for all riding levels and is a no drop ride. It is great to see all these people getting out for rides. The YMCA group was taking a route that was going to take us pretty far out and had a few good hills itself. We decided to break off of the group and go our own way. It would have been a huge ride for us to do it all. The bigger group would have been nice to ride with, but we had a good group too, so it was all good.

I had to fight through some cramps in the middle of the ride. I managed to keep riding strong and get them stretched out and feeling better. Even after all the hills, we were moving along at a good clip for most of the ride. The moving average doesn't show it, but it was a fast paced ride. I have the auto stop turned off on my Garmin because of the mtb rides. I forgot to stop it when I stopped for some water. We also slowed the pace down a lot while we were riding with the YMCA guys and chatting away.


This weekend was the second weekend in a row that a race has been cancelled because of rain. This is a good thing for the trails and our bikes, but not a good thing for the racing. I have been ready to get out there and see where I am with my training in a race situation, but it has not worked out. I am not sure I will be able to hit the race next weekend because I should be a good dad and watch my son. I just wish Waverly was on Sunday, but that would not go so well for mom either. When we do actually get to race, the team will be looking good and easy to find. The new team tent is awesome looking!!!