I'm a fairly new rider; I got my road bike at the very end of June. I've been riding as much as possible for a single working mom - which means about three, maybe four times a week if I'm lucky. But I love riding, and I'm in pretty decent shape for my age - or so I thought until Tuesday night...
I tried a new ride out of my local bike shop - the intermediate ride. Sounded easy. Twenty-seven mile ride, no drops (thank God). It kicked my butt! Yep, it was only 27 miles, but there were, amazingly for my area, hills, and these folks didn’t slow down AT ALL. We climbed these hills in our big ring. Ugh. Thankfully, a few riders were nice enough to give me some help getting up the hills; I could have climbed them on my own, but SLOWLY - definitely not at the speed they were riding.
So the ride ended up being 27 miles, average speed 17 mph, no stops except at a few traffic lights; oh and the last 3 miles were in the dark.
So I’ve ridden 27 miles before - not a problem. I’ve ridden a few hills, but not many, and certainly have never climbed them in my big ring. I’ve had rides that averaged over 17 mph. But never all three at once - with no stops. I’m a wimp newbie.
But I finished! And I’ll be going back until that ride is EASY for me. I didn’t beat cancer to have my bike kick my butt!
