Today I did my first group ride of the season. Well, a group ride that I wasn't leading. This was with the other club I ride with, but it is a specific group of "older" people who are really quite interesting. The ride left from a location about 8-10 miles from my house and was supposed to be 35 miles and mostly flat or rolling.
Well, yesterday I went out for a 27 mile ride (my longest so far) and my speed was slow. I am still having a lot of PT issues, even though I am much stronger. The group ride today is really perfect for me, since I am usually too slow for a fast group, but too fast for the slower people. There were 50 people on the ride today; big even for this group. I decided to stay at the back of the front group, since if you are right up with the leader, you get asked to be a "human arrow," which is the system this group uses to keep people on the route. I really don't like doing this, especially with big groups. It's hard to wait and be sure when the sweep has passed and you can leave your "post." Anyway, all was well until about 20 miles into the ride. The leader was moving a bit faster than the usual speed and it was fine. We were near the lunch stop, when I got caught at a light and then there was a gradual climb. But that wasn't the real issue, since I seem to be the only one in this group who catches people on a climb. A lot of these people live near Boston and totally fall apart when there is a hill. The issue was that it was 85 out! I don't like riding in hot weather to begin with, but this was a shock to me, after riding in 50 and 60 degrees for the past 2 weeks. After the climb, where I lost sight of the front group and was basically by myself, we regrouped. I though we'd be heading to lunch (I knew we were near the place), the leader said we had 10 or 11 miles to go. Then I realized I was on the verge of heat exhaustion. I ate my Luna Bar (there goes Passover) and practically drained my Accelerade. When we got to the lunch stop, my face was so red, it was gross. I went into the bathroom and poured water on my head. Then I bought a Gatorade and ate a bagel. After lunch, now realizing that this was going to be a 40+ mile ride, I seemed to regain some energy. I stayed behind the leader and when we stopped about 6 miles from the end, he had to help someone who lost their wallet. Me and a couple of others lead the rest of the group back to the cars.
I put my bike on the rack and got out of there quickly. I didn't want to socialize in my sweaty bike shorts. Came home and took a long bath! Going out to dinner helped me recover more, along with a nice glass of wine.
44 miles
