Tuesday I decided to join the night ride to get some miles in. I was busy and could not make the Basket Case ride on Monday to help loosen my legs, so they were still hurting when we went out. It was a great group with 10 riders showing up. It started out fairly friendly and all was well. That was until part of the way threw the loop it seemed to start to accelerate. It continued to do this until we were running over 26 mph for a long stretch of road.
That ride was a blast, but hurt too. I really like joining group rides like this since there was several riders. It just makes it more fun. My fun started to end as I headed home. My light was not working all night. Last week it was not charged and didn't last long. I had plugged it in to charge it over the weekend, but didn't test it before I left. When I finally went to turn it on, there was nothing there. I was not sure what was wrong with it, but I was ok not having a light. That was until the group split up and everyone was heading home. The highway toward my house sucks bad enough in the day time, but at night it is even worse. Then when I don't have a head light on, it makes it down right scary. I did have a tail light blinking, but at that time of the night, you never know if you are going to be seen or not.
I was having trouble seeing the road and just trying to keep myself upright and safe. After turning off in to the neighborhood I felt a lot better. That was until I heard something. I could not really see, but all of a sudden I could see a deer running full speed across the road right in front of me. I hit the brakes and he made it past, but not with out freaking me out some.
My big disappointment for the ride was when I got close to home and realized that the Garmin was not recording. I didn't notice this since I was just looking at the speed, but I didn't get any of the loop. I was looking forward to seeing how we went compared to other nights I have been out. It seemed faster, but I am not sure.
Tuesday night was so much fun, I decided to join the ride again on Wednesday night. I headed out a little early and tried to loosen the legs up from the previous ride. They were hurting and not very strong. I just hoped that I could keep up. Turns out that the group was very small. There was 2 of us that showed up. We did have a third rider join us for part of the ride, but not for that long. I was told the other riders legs hurt and we were going to put in an easy ride. That sounded great to me with how my legs felt.
But, not too far in to the ride I began to wonder just how fast would we be going if his legs didn't hurt. We were not really going much slower than normal and we were actually moving pretty good for awhile. I looked down and we were rolling over 22 mph. Not what I would normally call an easy ride. I was hanging on, but it was not easy. I was ok with him motor pacing me around the loop. It was good for the legs. I think I need to make all of those rides every week if I am not riding on those days. It would be nothing but good for me. Almost down to one more week before Versailles. I hope to show up better than I have the last couple of races, but we will see.
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